V monografii vpervye v otechestvennoy i zarubezhnoy literature predprinyata popytka rassmotret' normativnuyu bazu i praktiku formirovaniya denezhno-kreditnykh otnosheniy v poseleniyakh osnovnykh administrativno-territorial'nykh edinitsakh Rossii serediny XVIII - nachala KhKh vv. v obychnykh i ekstremal'nykh usloviyakh. V nauchnyy oborot vvedeny arkhivnye materialy o rabote bankov i tomu podobnykh uchrezhdeniy v Kaluzhskom gubernskom i vsekh 11 uezdnykh tsentrakh, inykh poseleniyakh, Sevastopol'skom gradonachal'stve. Privedeny novye svedeniya ob usloviyakh zhizni i material'nykh vozmozhnostyakh razlichnykh sotsial'nykh sloyev, formirovanii u naseleniya osnov bankovskikh znaniy, obespechenii grazhdanskikh prav sobstvennosti, uprochenii finansovykh rychagov mestnogo samoupravleniya. Uchashchiesya uznayut, kak sverstniki poluchali bankovsie uslugi, vzroslye - kak funktsionirovala bankovskaya sistema, predprinimateli - kakie finansovye instituty i na kakikh usloviyakh obsluzhivali kolleg, sut' nalogooblagaemoy baz proshlogo, upravlentsy - kakimi finansovymi rychagami vladeli regional'naya vlast' i mestnoe samoupravleni.