The Contribution of Exiles to the Distribution of Literacy among the Children of Yekaterinburg in 1734–1740s

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2023.3.818

Keywords:

Urals, Yekaterinburg, Vasily Tatishchev, exiles, literacy training, private schools

Abstract

This article examines the contribution of exiles to teaching children living in the settlement of the Yekaterinburg plant, the largest in the mining and industrial Urals, to read and write. It was a place where the features of the new policy of Vasily Tatishchev, who became head of the factories in 1734, concerning teaching literacy to the vastest range of children possible and using exiles sent there from all over the country as teachers, were most clearly manifest. Based on the extensive use of archival documents of administrative and information character and petitions, the author characterises the peculiarities of the cadre of exiled teachers, which has never been done previously. The author reveals the reasons for the extensive recruitment of exiles and, starting from 1742, pardoned ex-exiles as teachers, reconstructs their composition, reveals their previous posts, the crimes for which they were exiled, common features characterising their vital activity, position in society, their relations among themselves and with other representatives of society, and the different levels of their material situation. Additionally, the article examines the peculiarities of the attitude of the Ural authorities toward the exiled teachers. The petitions of the exiles indicate that with them, the position of a literacy teacher enjoyed great appreciation despite the low pay. For the first time in history, the author analyses the student records of the grammar school, identifying all the cases of collective enrolment and the total number of children taught by the exiled Yekaterinburg masters, including those from the nearby factories. Also, the article introduces data about private literacy schools in Yekaterinburg opened by exiles, where they taught children for a fee as part of a contract with their parents at their homes. Based on this, the author concludes that the contribution of exiles as teachers to the development of children’s literacy in Yekaterinburg deserves the highest assessment.

Author Biography

Alevtina Safronova

Dr. Hab. (History), Professor, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin.

19, Mira Str., 620002, Yekaterinburg, Russia.

ORCID 0000-0002-4692-3025

alevtina.safronova@gmail.com

References

Borodina, E. V. (2020). Katorzhnye i ssyl’nye v Ekaterinburge v 1723 – kontse 1730-kh gg.: k voprosu o formirovanii sotsial’nogo prostranstva goroda [Convicts and Exiles in Yekaterinburg in 1723 ‒ Late 1730s: On the Formation of the City’s Social Space]. In Genesis: istoricheskie issledovaniya. No. 11, pp. 14‒26. DOI 10.25136/2409-868X.2020.11.34382.

Budrin, V. N. (1950). Gornozavodskie shkoly Urala v XVIII i v nachale XIX v. [Mining Schools of the Urals in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries]. In Materialy vtoroi nauchnoi konferentsii po istorii Ekaterinburga – Sverdlovska. Sverdlovsk, S. n., pp. 45‒98.

GASO [State Archive of Sverdlovsk Region]. Stock 24. List 1. Dos. 450, 577а, 602, 624, 692, 694, 756, 760, 762, 857, 907, 952, 1039, 1128; List 2. Dos. 215, 226.

Nechaev, N. V. (1944). Shkoly pri gornykh zavodakh Urala v pervoi polovine 18-go stoletiya. K istorii professional’nogo obrazovaniya v Rossii [Schools at the Ural Mining Plants in the First Half of the 18th Century. On the History of Vocational Education in Russia]. Moscow, Gudok. 120 p.

RGADA [Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts]. Stock 248. List 17. Dos. 1133.

Safronova, A. M. (2000). Pervye shkoly Ekaterinburga (1724–1734). K 275-letiyu osnovaniya [The First Schools of Yekaterinburg (1724‒1734). For the 275th Anniversary of the Foundation]. Yekaterinburg, Izdatel’stvo Ural’skogo universiteta. 144 p.

Safronova, A. M. (2009). Pervaya shkola peniya na gornozavodskom Urale i ee knizhnoe sobranie (1735–1740-e) [The First School of Singing in the Ural Mountains and Its Book Collection (1735‒1740s)]. In Dokument. Arkhiv. Istoriya. Sovremennost’. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov. Iss. 10. Yekaterinburg, Izdatel’stvo Ural’skogo universiteta, pp. 51‒68.

Safronova, A. M. (2014). Dokumenty organov upravleniya promyshlennost’yu Rossii kak istochnik o gornozavodskikh shkolakh Urala pervoi poloviny XVIII v. [Documents of Russian Industrial Governing Bodies as a Source on Mining Schools in the Urals in the First Half of the 18th Century]. Yekaterinburg, Izdatel’stvo Ural’skogo universiteta. 334 p.

Tatishchev, V. N. (1990). Zapiski. Pis’ma. 1717‒1750 gg. [Notes. Letters. 1717–1750]. Moscow, Nauka. 440 p.

Published

2023-09-25

How to Cite

Safronova, A. (2023). The Contribution of Exiles to the Distribution of Literacy among the Children of Yekaterinburg in 1734–1740s. Quaestio Rossica, 11(3), 790–804. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2023.3.818

Issue

Section

Problema voluminis