Bureaucracy of the postal department of the Russian Empire (1865–1881)

The purpose of this article is to examine the formation of the bureaucracy within one of the central communications management bodies of the Russian Empire: the Postal Department. During the era of great reforms, the department required a more efficient bureaucratic apparatus, the "human composition" of which the author explores. The relevance of this study stems from the need to understand the evolution of governmental departments in order to improve public administration mechanisms today. The research is based on sources from the Russian State Historical Archive, official documents of the Russian Empire, and memoirs of contemporaries. In 1865, the main authority over the Postal Department gained control of the Telegraph Department and was reorganized into the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. However, in 1868, the Postal Department lost its autonomy and was subordinated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs was restored in 1880, but in 1881 the postal administration ultimately lost its independence once more, becoming part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the form of separate Postal and Telegraph departments. Special attention is paid to the activities of Director-General F.I. Pryanishnikov, Ministers I.M. Tolstoy, A.E. Timashev, and L.S. Makov, as well as Directors of the Postal Department N.I. Laube and I.O. Velio. In addition to the qualities necessary for fulfilling the Emperor's objectives, the author characterizes the leadership styles and personal traits of these department heads based on memoir sources. The novelty of the research lies in its revelation and clarification of previously unexplored aspects of the Postal Department's bureaucratic functioning. It presents the results of a comparative analysis of the size, financial standing, and official status of officials within the Postal and Telegraph departments. The study demonstrates that the maintenance of personnel in these communication structures developed along a path of equalization, evidenced by decreasing salaries in the Postal Department and increasing salaries in the Telegraph Department. The author declares no conflicts of interests.