«Фонд имени бывшего начальника Главного тюремного управления тайного советника А. М. Максимовского» (1907–1917): причины создания, деятельность, историческое значение

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to study the activities of the “Foundation named after the former head of the Main prison department, privy councilor A. M. Maksimovsky”. Research objectives: to identify the reasons for the foundation’s creation, to analyze the main directions of its activities, to determine the list of persons who established this fund, to establish the historical significance of the foundation’s work. The chronological framework of the study is determined by the time of the existence of this charitable organization. The source base consists of unpublished office documents, reference sources, pre-revolutionary periodicals. Clerical documentation from two funds of the Central archive of the Nizhny Novgorod region was used: fund 386 “Nizhny Novgorod prison inspectorate” (1908–1918), fund 1952 “Balakhninsky district branch of the Prison trustee society”. The most important historical sources include reference materials on the highest and central state institutions of Russia (1801–1917), the pre-revolutionary periodical press — the journal of the Main prison administration called the “Prison bulletin”. The author came to the conclusion that “The Foundation named after the former head of the Main prison department, privy councilor A. M. Maksimovsky”, was created on the initiative of representatives of the political elite of the Russian empire. Its founders wanted not only to perpetuate the memory of A. M. Maksimovsky, who died while performing his official duty, but also, in the context of the growing revolutionary movement in Russia, to financially support the families of prison officers killed in their posts.