The paper deals with thesis of modern Russian researchers, who used published and unpublished documents on the activities of the provincial government in their works. Over the past twenty years historians specializing in zemstvo issues have made significant progress in identifying and analyzing unique documentary heritage of the Russian Zemstvo. Different lines of zemstvo studies today attract not only historians but also educators, lawyers, political scientists, philosophers, economists, culture experts. Social scientists and scholars were able to apply research methods and techniques to the study of documents of the zemstvo self-government. Russian scholars attach special significance to Zemstvo institutions documents in archival and published materials. The increased number of documents related to activities of the provincial government created a unique educational situation for researchers, who could be overwhelmed by the numerous sources for study. Zemstvo studies, covering a wide range of issues and unexplored aspects of provincial government activity, made a step forward in the study of the documentary heritage of the Russian Zemstvo.