The book by educator and local historian Kapiton Golodnikov Tobolsk and its Suburbs was published in 1887. Its first section was General Outlook at the City Structure. There, the author described in detail the history of Tobolsk formation from the time when chieftain Yermak began to explore Siberia.

Other parts of the book are devoted to the celebration of the 300th anniversary of foundation of Tobolsk; description of clerical and civil authorities in the city and the province; economic life and class structure. Kapiton Golodnikov also thoroughly described local climate, architectural monuments of Tobolsk, as well as various interesting places in the city and its suburbs. He devoted a separate chapter to visits of members of the imperial family.

Kapiton Golodnikov worked as a teacher at the Yalutorovskaya Non-Classical Secondary School. Later, he was appointed an assessor of district court in Kurgan. Golodnikov was closely acquainted with many nobles who were exiled to these lands, and wrote the essay “Decembrists in the Tobolsk province” about them.

Since the second half of the 1870s, Kapiton Golodnikov participated in archaeological excavations near Tobolsk. Moreover, he traveled a lot around the province, studied the life and traditions of local residents. Extensive historical and ethnographic material collected during those trips and excavations formed the basis of his monograph “Tobolsk province on the eve of the 300th anniversary of the conquest of Siberia”.

At the beginning of the 1880s, Golodnikov became an editor of the Tobolsk Provincial Gazette. There, he published his articles on economics, then based on those articles, he created his work “The Economic Status of Siberian Urban Settlements”.