This article uses the example of rural in the Ruzsky district of Moscow province to describe the methodology used for preparing information when studying the reflection of the life of Russian society on cartographic materials and documents of the XVI – XVIII centuries; the main difficulties encountered when working with historical materials and ways to overcome them are considered; the possibility of using the information provided in the reviews of historical documents is justified; the possibilities of supplementing the reviews of historical documents with some information are shown; the results of attempts for supplement the information generated on the basis of historical documents with information obtained using cartographic materials, pedigrees and armorial bearings are presented; systematised information about the selected rural in Ruzsky district and their representation in suitable for the subsequent analysis form; the proposed criteria and a quantitative assessment of the reliability made additions; the possibility of using the resulting set of information to study the reflection of the life of Russian society on cartographic materials and documents of the XVI – XVIII centuries is shown.