Abstract: the article deals with the publishing activities of employees of statistical institutions of the Steppe region of the late XIX-early XX century on topical issues of the region. The most extensive section is an array to study the economic situation of the region. The works are written in the form of natural history, economic, statistical essays, brief reviews of the economic situation. They were written without a specific program, without a pre-developed system. The main object in the study of the economy was cattle breeding as a determining factor of well-being in the Kazakh steppe.
Much attention was paid to the problems of agriculture and land use in the region. Various aspects of the study can be distinguished from the works on this topic: land use, land ownership and agriculture; agriculture in resettlement settlements and Kazakh villages; agriculture and development of local industry; land use and resettlement.
A certain place among the studies is occupied by the work on the transition of the Kazakh population to settlement. The steppe aristocracy idealized a nomadic way of life, officials of government agencies for the removal of “surplus” lands insisted on settlement at any cost.
A certain part of the work is devoted to the issues of resettlement. They indicate the reasons for resettlement from their homes, from the last place of settlement, lists of available property and equipment, given the budgets of farms, shows the plight of immigrants.
Keywords: edition of statistical committees, the Secretary, the Steppe region, the history, the source