The role of public and private initiatives in the development of public education in Minusinsk District of Yenisei Province in the late XIX – early XX centuries

Abstract

The subject of this research is public and private initiatives of the population in the development of public education in the Minusinsk District of Yenisei Province in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The goal consists in studying the role of public and private initiatives in the development of public education in the territory of Minusinsk District of Yenisei Province over the period under review. The article employs the cultural-historical and historical-geographical methods; historiographical framework is comprised of the materials of pre-revolutionary periodical press (the newspaper “Eastern Review”), statistical data of Reviews of Yenisei Province, archival documents of the Minusinsk State Archive, and published documentation. Special attention is given to charitable activity of such individuals as I. G. Gusev, V. A. Danilov, F. F. Devyatov, N. M. Martyanov, I. M. Sibiryakov, and others in the sphere of public education. The article reviews the role of the Board of Regents of Minusinsk Women's Professional Gymnasium and Minusinsk Society for the Monitoring of Elementary Education on the issue of literacy of the local population. The conclusion is made that the autonomous socially important activity of the representatives of merchantry and peasantry, as well as nongovernmental organizations, contributed to an increase in the number of schools, improvement of financial situation of educational institutions of Minusinsk District, and attraction competent pedagogues to the Siberian province.