The relevance of the study lies in the necessity of analyzing and recording the various stages of the making of the information picture of the regions. The purpose of the article is to characterize the pre-revolutionary periodical press system of the Tambov Governorate, which developed during the first two decades of the twentieth century, using modern methods of studying the mass media, in particular, comparative and typological methods, content analysis. The background for the formation of the printed media in the region are identified, the regional specificity of the pre-revolutionary information space is defined, various types of provincial and district newspapers and magazines are reflected, the importance of the media covering the problems of local autonomy is noted. We conclude that the further development of the media system of this territory, the continuity of ways to satisfy the information needs of the audience. The study results can be used to build a model of regional media, highlight their typological features.

Over time, local history materials do not become obsolete, but, on the contrary, become even more relevant. In this regard, the study of local history topics of the pre-revolutionary press can eliminate white spots in the study of regions. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the contribution of the doctor and publicist B.P. Knyazhinskiy in the development of Tambov local history. We apply the principle of historicism, a systematic approach, the content analysis method of the content. We analyze the historical essay “Ancient Usmansky Assumption Maiden Monastery”. It is noted that the Diocesan Gazette, in which the essay was published, performed an enlightening and educational function in pre-revolutionary Russia within the framework of the mass media system, and the clergy played a progressive function in the regional community. We reveal the local history value of the essay and its research nature associated with the use of documentary and scientific sources of that time. B.P. Knyazhinsky’s publication about the history of the convent in the 17th–18th centuries, revealing aspects of the life of the population of Usman itself, expands the possibilities of using the essay in modern regional historiography. The study results can be used to further study the history of the Tambov region and neighboring territories, as well as to fully describe the media system in the region.

We consider unknown facts from the history of journalistic education – about the functioning of the regional party newspaper school, which worked in Michurinsk in the 30s of the 20th century. The aim of the study is to introduce into scientific circulation new documents proving the existence of the regional party newspaper school in the Tambov Region. The relevance is connect-ed with filling the gaps in the journalistic education history and the analysis of the school’s work in the context of today’s tasks of professional education. This research is interdisciplinary and is connected with history, pedagogy, philology in addition to journalism. We apply various sciences methods, including the ideographic method by which this phenomenon is described. The historical and typological method allows us to compare the past and the present of the process of professional journalistic education, to classify this historical object. The socio and cultural aspect of the study of this phenomenon, as part of a systematic approach to the study of journalism, is dictated by the need to determine the place and importance of the functioning of the newspaper school in the social paradigm of the 20th century. Main results: we specify and detail the facts of existence of the initial stage of professional education in journalism in the Tambov Region; we analyze various aspects of journalistic education in the newspaper school, including the organization of the educational process, the effectiveness of this form of education; also we substantiate the importance of this educational structure for the development of regional journalism of the 20th century.