The manual acquaints the reader with the main types of written sources on Russian history of the 10th - early 21st centuries: annals, legislative and private acts, office documents, statistical sources, materials of personal origin, periodicals. The reader will find in the book a systematic overview of the most important complexes of written historical sources; will trace the evolution of these sources; familiarize yourself with specific methods for identifying, processing and analyzing the information recorded in them.