The research papers that compiled this collection were presented at an international conference organized by the German Historical Institute in Moscow. An analysis of the relationship of the Russian provincial nobility with the authorities and society in the 18th century on the basis of specific materials of local history makes it possible to revise the views dominant in modern historical science on the Russian nobility of the 18th century as an estate divorced from its environment, experiencing economic stagnation and decline, and on life in the provinces as ignorant, causing the provincial nobleman a sense of inferiority and insecurity.