Oil shale is considered the most important natural resource of Estonia and its role in energy production and chemical industry has been pointed out in numerous papers. But there are no special publications about the history of the Estonian oil shale industry in English. This article tries to fulfil the gap relying on numerous archival documents and literature sources which have remained out of the attention of scientists up till now. It follows from the article that without the studies carried out by Russian researchers in 1916–1920 the Estonian oil shale industry may not have been born. Using the results of Russian investigators, the Estonians hoped to set up their own oil shale industry applying Scottish experience. This hope failed, however, and thus the Estonians had to elaborate their own methods for the development of oil shale chemistry.
1. Anonymous. About the burning soil in the province of Tallinn. Auswahl ökonomischer Abhandlungen, welche die freie ökonomische Gesellschaft in St. Petersburg in deutscher Sprache erhalten hat, 1791, 3, 330–331 (in German).
2. Pogrebov, N. Estonian oil shales. Estestvennye proizvoditel’nye sily Rossii. Poleznye iskopaemye, sostavlen Geologicheskim Komitetom, 1919, 4(20), 288–323 (in Russian).
3. Helmersen, G. von. On the bituminous shale and a newly detected combustible rock formation in the Province of Estonia, supplemented by remarks on some geological phenomena of modern times. Bulletin scientifique publié par l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg, 1838, 5(4–5), 56–73 (in German).
4. Schmidt, F. Investigations on the Silurian System of the St-Petersburg, Estonian and North-Livonian provinces including the Island of Oesel. Archiv für die Naturkunde Liv-, Ehst- und Kurlands, 1858, I. Série, 2 (in German).
5. Schmidt, F. On the Silurian (and Cambrian) Strata of the Baltic Provinces of Russia, as compared with those of Scandinavia and the British Isles. Quarternal Journal of the Geological Society of London, 1882, 38(152), 414–436.
6. Schmidt, F. On the most recent views of the Silurian System of the St-Petersburg, Estonian and North-Livonian provinces including Ösel Island. Trudy S.-Peterburgskogo obshchestva estestvoispytatelej, 1879, 10, 42–48 (in Russian).
7. Schmidt, F. Geological survey of the Silurian territory of the eastern Baltic and the revision of East-Baltic Silurian trilobite species. Part I. Phacopiden, Cheiruriden, Encrinuriden. Mémoires de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.-Pétersbourg, 1881, VII. Serie, 30(1) (in German).
8. Zalesskij, M. The age of the marine sapropelic originating from algae in the Silurian period. Izvestiya Peterburgskoj Akademii nauk, 1917, Série VI, 1, 3–26 (in Russian).
9. Schamarin, A. Chemical Studies of Oil Shale of Kuckers. Laakmann, Dorpat, 1870 (in German).
10. Fokin, L. On the structure and distillation products of bituminous burning rocks of the Province of Estonia. Gornyj Zhurnal, 1913, 2(5), 117–142 (in Russian).
11. Tammiksaar, E. The beginning of oil shale industry in Estonia – prerequisites and causes: Historical insight. Akadeemia, 2013, 25(1, 2), 15–49, 278–309 (in Estonian).
12. Anonymous. Overview of the activities of the Extraordinary Committee for Fuels. Materialy po obzoru deyatel’nosti osobogo Soveshchaniya po toplivu za pervyj god ego sushchestvovaniya, 1917, 1, 104–109 (in Russian).
13. Anonymous. Summary of the protocol of the Petrograd Main Committee for Fuels, 08 May 1916. Russian Historical Archives, 58-2-702, sh. 4–4v (in Russian).
14. Shakhovskoj, V. Report about the Estonian oil shale and possibilities of its usage to the Emperor of Russia, Petrograd, 03 January 1917. Russian Historical Archives, 58-2-702, sh. 96v (in Russian).
15. Anonymous. Oil shale mining in the governments of Estonia and Petrograd. Narodnoe khozyajstvo, 1917, 1(6–7), 15–20 (in Russian).
16. Pogrebov, N. Kukersite (Oil shale). In: Khimiko-tekhnicheskij spravochnik. Iskopaemoe syr’e. (A. Fersman, E. Ereminova, eds.). Petrogr. Komitet Voenno-tekhn. Pomoshchi, Petrograd, 1918, 1(1), 73–74 (in Russian).
17. Anonymous. Protocol of the meeting of the Extraordinary Committee for Fuels, the mining department, the Military Committee and the Geological Committee, after 02 November 1917. Russian Historical Archives, 58-2-702. sh. 291–293 (in Russian).
18. Yatsevich, M. Oil shale extracting in Scotland. Izvestiya Osobogo Soveshchaniya po toplivu, 1917, 3, 84–85 (in Russian).
19. Winkler, H. v. Estonian Geology. Pihlakas, Tallinn 1922 (in Estonian).
20. Winkler, H. von (ed.). Estonian Oil Shale: Research, Mining and Exploitation. Wassermann, Reval, 1930 (in German).
21. [Raud, M.] The [Estonian] State Oil Shale Industry 1918–1928. Riigi Põlevkivitööstuse Kirjastus, Tallinn, 1928 (in Estonian).
22. Raud, M. Letter to A. Piip, Tallinn, 18 November 1918. Estonian State Archive, 20-1-9, sh. 6 (in Estonian).
