Abstract: The subject of this article is the socio-cultural image of the uyezd-towns of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. The focus of this study is the provincial periodical press, which reflects the most important problems, issues and events the inhabitants of the town of Tsaritsyn faced in their local life at the beginning of the 20th century. The author devotes particular attention to the description and review of newspaper articles in which contemporaries reverberated their thoughts on the issues, life and customs of the local inhabitants. The aim of this article is to present the socio-cultural image of the town of Tsaritsyn at the beginning of the 20th century. In order to achieve this aim the author gives special attention to the examination of the attitude of the inhabitants of the town of Tsaritsyn towards theatre and leisure in general, based on the material from the local newspaper "Tsaritsynskoe Slovo". The main method applied to this study is the comparative-historical approach. The interdisciplinary approach was also applied to the study provincial periodical press. The relevance of the current article lays in the fact that provincial periodical press remains today virtually unstudied. The author introduces into scientific use multiple new historical sources, above all, the newspaper "Tsaritsynskoe Slovo", which has not been examined anywhere. Meanwhile this newspaper is of great value both as a historical source and as a mirror of the life and customs of the inhabitants of Tsaritsyn at the beginning of the 20th century. Analysing the notes of the named newspaper, the author reconstructs the socio-cultural image of the town of Tsaritsyn which allows to reconstitute the general image of the uyezd-towns of the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century.