Studying social conflicts and crisis periods allows us to reveal important features of the development of the Russian state. In this regard, the conference "In the era of change: rebellion, uprising and revolution in the XVII - early XX centuries. in the Russian province," held September 21-23, 2017 on the basis of Yelets State University named after I.A. Bunin. It took place with the support of the RFBR (Department of Humanities and Social Sciences) and the administration of the Lipetsk region.