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Teaching History to Petersburg Gymnasium Students in the First Half of the 19th Century
T. I. Pashkova
Received in Tatiana Pashkova, Candidate of Sciences in History, Associate Professor, Depart-February 2021 ment of Russian History from Ancient Times to Early 19th Century, Institute of History and Social Sciences, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. Address: 48 Moyka River Emb, 191186 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. Email: tatianapa-shkova22@gmail.com
Abstract This article explores the practices of teaching history in men's gymnasiums of the first half of the 19th century in Saint Petersburg, analyzing the curricula, the content of textbooks and examinations as well as theoretical developments and methodological techniques in the design of textbooks on world and Russian history. At the infancy stage of gymnasium education development, the focus was on teaching world history. Meanwhile, even schools in Saint Petersburg had great difficulty in selecting the textbooks. Handbooks written by foreign authors and, later, Saint Petersburg teachers, represented bulky volumes with no illustrative material or instructional guidelines.
Keywords history of education, school textbook, teaching history, gymnasium.
For citing Pashkova T. I. (2021) Kak prepodavali istoriyu peterburgskim gimnazistam v pervoy polovine XIX v. [Teaching History to Petersburg Gymnasium Students in the First Half of the 19th Century]. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 2, pp. 261-278. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2021-2-261-278
Pre-revolutionary secondary school practices of teaching history have repeatedly attracted the attention of researchers [Orlovsky 2002; Shap-arina 2004; Volodina 2004; Topchieva 2004; Ponikarova 2005; Fedoro-va 2012; Volobuev 2014; Studenikin 2016; Fuks 2017], who mostly focus on the content of school textbooks at the dawn of historical science in the 19th-early 20th century and on the methods of teaching history in the broadest strokes. Meanwhile, in most cases the authors look at the subject of their research through the eyes of the Ministry of National Education, i. e. through the prism of its prescriptions and policies. However, it also appears important and necessary to analyze the actual situation with school history education at "grass-roots" level, so Translated this article will mostly zero in on the practices of teaching history in from Russian by Saint Petersburg men's gymnasiums of the first half of the 19th ceni. zhuchkova. tury. The goal of this study is therefore to describe and analyze histo-
ry course curricula and the content of textbooks and examinations as well as theoretical developments and methodological techniques in the design of textbooks on world and Russian history.
Early History History as a course was introduced in gymnasium curricula by the Curricula and very first Charter of Educational Institutions adopted on November 5, Instructional 1804.1 Initially, history and geography were taught by the same teach-Guidelines er, so the two subjects were coupled in the teaching hours distribution. Developed by Surviving documents from Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasi-Sergey Uvarov um, the only institution of this type in Saint Petersburg at that time, indicate that the focus was placed on teaching world history during this early period. The 1808 public examination time table for the first generation of gymnasium graduates read, in particular, "history of the Roman Empire, the Russian Empire until the House of Romanov, the Prussian Empire, and the English Empire until the House of Tudor".2 Furthermore, all the textbooks approved at that time by the Main Board of Schools (the predecessor of the Ministry of National Education) were also dedicated to world history. Russian educationalist Andrey Voronov reported in his famous work on the history of Saint Petersburg educational district, using slightly inaccurate imprint, that World History Synchronistic Charts written by a teacher of Kazan Gymnasium known by his last name Wilfing and An Abridgement of Universal History by J.J. Roemer were published in 1804 and 1807, respectively.3 The latter was a nearly 500-page oeuvre devoted to ancient, medieval and modern history and providing no information on the history of Russia. In 1815, judging by the content of examinations, the focus was still on universal history. Gymnasium students of 5th to 7th grades were expected to be able to tell about "history as a discipline, its areas of study and periods, an-
1 His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery (1830) Vysochayshe utverzhdenny ustav uchebnykh zavedeniy, podvedomykh universitetam [The Imperially Approved Charter of Educational Institutions Affiliated with Universities]. Polnoe sobra-nie zakonov Rossiyskoy imperii. Pervoe sobranie. T. XXVIII [The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Collection One. Vol. XXVIII], St Petersburg: His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery, no 25.501 (hereinafter referred to as "the 1804 Charter").
2 Uchebnye predmety, v koikh imeyut byt' ispytyvaemy v prisutstvii znamenitogo so-braniya vospitanniki S.-Peterburgskoy gubernskoy gimnazii 25 i 26 iyunya 1808 g. [Subjects in Which Students of Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium Should Take Examinations on the 25th and 26th of June 1808 in the Presence of the Famous Assembly], s. a.
3 Voronov A. (1849) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1715 po 1828 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1715 through 1828], St. Petersburg, pp. 190, 191. The second publication probably referred to Roemer J. J. (1808) Vseobshchaya istoriya, izdannaya ot Glavnogo pravleniya uchilishch dlya gimnaziy [Universal History Published by the Main Board of Schools for Use in Gymnasiums], St. Petersburg.
Table 1. Hours allocated for history classes, as stipulated in the 1804 Charter (§ 22).
Grade Course i Hours
1 Ancient History, Geography, Mythology, and Antiquities 6
2 Modern History and Geography, Including History and Geography of Russia 6
Table 2. The distribution of history teaching hours by grades after Sergey Uvarov's reform (1811).4
Grade Course Í Hours
4 World History 1 2
History of the Russian State j 2
5 History of Russia 1 4
Universal History ! 4
Contemporary History Í 4
6 World History 1 2
History of Russia ! 2
7 Contemporary History and Statistics ! 4
Antiquities i 2
Mythology i 2
cient history: the major great powers; medieval history: the Roman Empire, the might of the Franks and Arabs, the Crusades, and the Mongol Invasion; modern history: the discovery of the Americas, the Reformation and the effects of such, and the coups d'état of the past decades; Russian history: the key events in every period".5
As young count Sergey Uvarov took over Saint Petersburg educational district, he made a number of substantial changes to the men's gymnasium curriculum, although none of them concerned the content of history courses (for more on this, see [Pashkova 2010:25-27]). Table 2 shows the distribution of history class hours by grades after the reform.
4 Kurganovich A. (1880) Istoricheskaya zapiska 75-letiya Sankt-Peterburgskoy vtoroy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 75th Anniversary of the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, Part 1, pp. 39-40.
5 Programma publichnogo ekzamena uchashchimsya v S.-Peterburgskoy gubernskoy gimnazii dekabrya 30, 21, 2 i 23 chisel 1815 g. [Questions for Public Examinations to be Taken by Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium Students on the 30th, 21st, 2nd, and 23rd of December 1815], s. a.
At the level of class schedules and hours, the discipline was officially divided into history of Russia and world history, yet more teaching hours were still allocated for the latter.
As the district curator, Uvarov attached great importance to teaching history, at school in particular, as a national mission. In 1813, he published a dedicated work in which he claimed that every citizen needed "a clear understanding of the most important historical events".6 The Count considered it necessary to "unfold a huge landscape of historical sciences", "events and historical deeds" at the level of gymnasium education. The school course did not imply delving into the "philosophical truths" distilled from this "chaos", but students nevertheless had to be offered an insight into the truth and connections among historical events/ The curator's work contained some important instructional guidelines. First, Uvarov was convinced that the study of historical sciences should be preceded by an in-depth study of geography and chronology, which he called "the eyes of history". Second, he recommended introducing gymnasium students to source studies using the example of ancient history (since reading original sources "elevates the spirit" and "develops a taste"), thereby "strengthening" their knowledge of ancient languages, which is "the foundation of education as such". Third, the author considered it a good idea to "outline an overview, or a live picture, of customs, morals, and literacy" for every historical period when completing the study of such. Fourth, history of Russia should be delivered as part of modern history and studied "synchronistically with history of other European states". Sergey Uvarov believed that history should be studied not only in classes but also at home, "according to a plan outlined by the teacher". As for practical teaching recommendations, he insisted on abandoning the "pernicious method based solely on learners' memory" and thought it useful to require "written reports on lectures" from students.8
Early Translated The zestful curator probably encouraged his subordinates to write de-History cent "historical compendiums or handbooks", which were extremely Textbooks scarce at the time.9 Anyway, in 1811, teacher of Saint Petersburg Gov-ernorate Gymnasium Yegor Konstantinov, claiming to be "of as much use to the fatherland as possible, particularly in teaching the youth", published his translation of An Abridgement of Universal History, originally written in German by Johann Georg August Galletti, professor of Gotha Gymnasium, and published for the first time in Gotha in 1810. Konstantinov extended his translation with a short summary of
6 Uvarov S. (1813) O prepodavanii istorii otnositel'no k narodnomu vospitaniyu [On Teaching History as Part of National Education], St. Petersburg, p. 2.
7 Ibid, pp. 9, 13.
8 Ibid, pp. 9-12, 5.
9 Ibid, p. 5.
Russian history based on the same professor's approach10. It follows from the correspondence between Konstantinov and Uvarov that this book was approved by the latter and even "received imperial support" through his mediation.11 As a result, Konstantinov was awarded a diamond ring for his translation and publishing efforts.'12
The textbook by Galletti stood out from similar books in that it boasted an introduction in which the author speculated on the subject of history, its sources (oral and written), and the "aids" to study it, by which he understood geography, chronology, numismatics, genealogy, heraldry, and diplomacy.13 According to the professor, universal history only dealt with "such events that have an impact on the human race or at least the greatest part of it".14 The proportion of events from Russian history was comparatively low. From the ancient period, for instance, Galletti only mentioned the distribution of lands by Vladimir the Great among his sons, which made it easier for Batu Khan to invade Kievan Rus.15 All the other important events that had an impact on the "human race" fell within the 18th and early 19th centuries: the reign of the "glorious" Peter the Great, followed by his niece Anna Ioannovna who enjoyed the fruit of her labor in "happy wars" with the Turks and Swedes, the Seven Years' War and Peter Ill's alliance with Frederick the Great, participation of Russia in the Partitions of Poland, Russo-Turk-ish wars, Russia's expansion into Asia, and the war against Napoleon.16 Konstantinov elaborated the German professor's oeuvre, adding a text of his own. His Overview of Russian History, 324 pages long, represented a rather detailed outline of events up to the death of Catherine the Great. Records indicate that, once published, Konstantinov's translation began to be used in Saint Petersburg Gymnasium as a study guide.17 Eight years later, having made sure that his work had "received a cordial reception in Russian public and private educational institutions when teaching youth", Konstantinov started working on the second edition, which he "revised and extended up to <...> 1819". Probably hoping for further patronage, the teacher wisely dedicated his book to Sergey Uvarov as "an admirer and honorable patron of sciences" and asked him to offer it for consideration by the Academic Committee.™
10 Galletti J.G.A. (1811) Sokrashchenie vseobshchey istorii [An Abridgement of Universal History], St. Petersburg.
11 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 2172, p. 41(rev).
12 Russian State Historical Archive, Fund no 733. Inv. 20, doc. no 297, pp. 5(rev)-7.
13 Galletti J.G.A. (1819) Sokrashchenie vseobshchey istorii [An Abridgement of Universal History], St. Petersburg, pp. 1-3.
14 Ibid, p. 4.
15 Ibid, p. 143.
16 Ibid, pp. 143, 214-217, 224, 225, 231, 242, 247.
17 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 2172, p. 3.
18 Ibid, p. 1-1(rev).
The book was published in 1819, having become 20 pages longer due to the summary of milestones of the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I.19 This time, the author ended his timeline of Russian history just before the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, i. e. he basically extended the storyline up to the current events—which was extremely untypical of textbooks of the first half of the 19th century [Pashkova 2020].
Another textbook, Memorable Events in World History by G. G. Bre-dov, was translated from German in 1814 by Mikhail Zubakovich, another history teacher of Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium.20 The book was recognized as "useful for gymnasiums and uyezd schools" by the Minister of Education Alexey Razumovsky, who ordered procurement of 50 copies upon discussing the educational district's needs in his correspondence with Sergey Uvarov in November 1814.21 In May 1820, the Ministry of National Education made an inquiry to the district chancellery, asking whether Zubakovich's translation was used in teaching. It followed from the answer that the textbook was used as a guideline in Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium, while academic reports from other gymnasiums in the district provided "no evidence of this book being used as a textbook, yet apparently it is used as a guideline"^
There are mentions in research literature that educational institutions of the early 19th century used a few more translated textbooks23 as well as books by Johann Gotthilf Stritter, Pavel Stroyev/4 and other authors. For instance, Tatiana Volodina writes in her thesis paper that the Main Board of Schools purchased Pavel Stroyev's book, published in 1814 and republished in 1819, and Mikhail Muravyov's work to be distributed among the educational districts/5 According to Volodina [Vo-
19 Galletti J.G.A. (1819) Sokrashchenie vseobshchey istorii [An Abridgement of Universal History], St. Petersburg.
20 Bredov G.G. (1814) Dostopamyatnye proisshestviya vo vsemirnoy istorii, opisan-nye G. G. Bredovym. Dlya nachal'nogo ucheniya istorii; osobenno zhe v uyezdnykh i prikhodskikh uchilishchakh [Memorable Events in World History Described by G. G. Bredov. For early studies of history, particularly in uyezd and parochial schools], St. Petersburg.
21 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 1255, pp. 1-2.
22 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 2435, pp. 1-2.
23 Vegelin Z. (1807) Nachertanie rossiyskoy istorii dlya upotrebleniya yunoshestva i osobenno sey imperii [An Outline of Russian History to Be Taught to Youth, Particularly in the Russian Empire], Moscow; Kirnak T. (1804) Kratkaya istoriya rossiyskaya [A Brief History of Russia], St. Petersburg.
24 Stritter J.G. (1800-1802) Istoriya Rossiyskogo gosudarstva [History of the Russian State], St. Petersburg; Stroyev P. (1814) Kratkaya rossiyskaya istoriya dlya yunoshestva [A Brief History of Russia for Youth], St. Petersburg.
25 Stroyev P. (1814) Kratkaya rossiyskaya istoriya dlya nachinayushchikh [A Brief History of Russia for Beginners], Moscow; Muravyov M. (1810) Opyty istorii, sloves-nosti i nravoucheniya [Historical, Philological, and Moral Teaching Practices], Moscow, Parts 1-2.
lodina 2004:116, 468], Sergey Uvarov took great pains, as curator, to distribute Muravyov's book across the educational institutions under his jurisdiction. However, there is no evidence of using it in Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium.
Historian Alexander Fuks identifies An Abridgement of N. Karamz-in's 'History of the Russian State'for Youth by August Wilhelm Tappe published in 1819 as the first official handbook of Russian history [Fuks 2017:55-56]. At the initiative of Sergey Uvarov, several copies of Kara-mzin's books were distributed among libraries of Saint Petersburg educational district gymnasiums in February 1818, including the library of Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium which received three copies.26 The number of copies itself indicates that those books could only be used for supplementary reading outside of class.
It could therefore be concluded that Yegor Konstantinov's work, even though it was part of a book on universal history, became the first textbook on the history of Russia used for teaching to gymnasium students in Saint Petersburg.
As for the textbook by G. G. Bredov translated by Zubakovich, only one out of 61 chapters about "memorable events" in universal history was devoted to Russian affairs: Russia. Peter the Great.27 Four pages gave a brief description of the country's territory and peoples inhabiting it, the morals and religious beliefs of ancient Slavs, the summoning of the Varangians, the Christianization, Turco-Mongol rule, and the gathering of the Russian lands, and five more pages described the reign of Peter the Great. As the translator admits in the introduction, this chapter and several others were somewhat modified during translation so that students would "become more affirmed in their love for God, the Sovereign, and the fatherland".
Early Study According to Andrey Voronov28, Saint Petersburg educational district Guides by Russian started with using A Course in Universal History by professor of the Ped-Authors agogical Institute Yevdokim Zyablovskiy, published in 1811-1812 and originally designed for civil officials and certainly not for school students, and then switched to A Guide to Learning Universal Political History by Ivan Kaydanov, professor of Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.29
26 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 1926, pp. 1-2.
27 Bredov G.G. (1814) Dostopamyatnye proisshestviya vo vsemirnoy istorii, opisan-
nye G. G. Bredovym. Dlya nachal'nogo ucheniya istorii; osobenno zhe v uyezdnykh i prikhodskikh uchilishchakh [Memorable Events in World History Described by G. G. Bredov. For early studies of history, particularly in uyezd and parochial schools], St. Petersburg, pp. 149-157.
28 Voronov A. (1849) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1715 po 1828 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1715 through 1828], St. Petersburg, pp. 183,193, 194.
Zyablovskiy's textbook features a traditional division of universal history into periods. However, in each of the periods the author pays particular attention to the form of government, religious beliefs, and progress in education and trade.30 He also begins his study guide with an extensive introduction on a few dozens of pages, in which he explains what history is, why studying it requires good memory and reason, what good it can do, etc. In keeping with the beliefs of his times, Zyablovskiy argued that history was "a description of memorable events that occurred among people", i. e. events that "made a special change in civil societies, which show extraordinary examples of virtues and vices, knowledge and mistakes".31 The author considered teaching chronologically from ancient times to recent events to be the best possible method and polemicized with those who believed it a better idea to deliver the material "backwards" in the interests of school students, so as "not to burden children's memory with barbaric times and events"/2 According to Zyablovskiy, the good of history consisted not only in memory training but also in that it represented "a collection of moral experiences of the human race"/3 Expounding on possible teaching methods, the author argued that the ethnographic, or narrative method was the best for teaching national ("specific") history, while the synchronistic, or blended (ethnographic-synchronistic) method should be used to teach universal history. At the same time, in his opinion, only the former as the simplest and the most accessible one was suitable for teaching history to beginners, school students in particular. 34 Zyablovskiy's list of "aids" in studying history that lent credibility to it was even longer than the one proposed by Gallet-ti. In addition to the disciplines specified above, Zyablovskiy's list also included statistics, ethnography ("knowledge of inscriptions"), archaeology ("knowledge of antiquities"), and mythology/5
Addressing lyceum students in his study guide, Ivan Kaydanov formulated the following principles of material selection: "brevity, clarity, and the choice of subjects, knowledge of which is useful and necessary for you"/6 At the same time, the professor emphasized the importance of cause-and-effect relationships between "important events" and the country's internal situation as well as the need to assess events from moral and political perspectives. For Kaydanov, history was a "practical school of wisdom and virtue" that teaches "to see divine providence in all
30 Zyablovskiy Y. (1811) Kurs vseobshchey istorii [A Course in Universal History], St. Petersburg, p. III.
31 Ibid, p. 2.
32 Ibid, p. 20.
33 Ibid, p. 21.
34 Ibid, pp. 21-22.
35 Ibid, pp. 27-30.
36 Kaydanov I. (1817) Rukovodstvo kpoznaniyu vseobshchey politicheskoy istorii. Ch. 1. Drevnyaya istoriya [A Guide to Learning Universal Political History. Part 1: Ancient History], St. Petersburg, p. III.
the events on earth and humbly submit to it; to walk steadily along the path of virtue; to value the good of one's fatherland above everything else in the world; and to comply with the supreme will of the august <...> Sovereign with dignity and zeal".37 In the introduction to his study guide, he gives a number of methodological recommendations for students as well as teachers. For example, he believed that teaching history should be first of all combined with geography studies, so students had to have access to maps both in class and at horned The book contained a chronological table and an alphabetical list of the key events, names and toponyms. However, the professor argued that, since history is "about memory and reason", mechanical memorization of dates and names is not enough. Learning history is to "plunge into the spirit of the age and the patterns of thinking prevalent at that time".39
In April 1822, educational authorities suddenly decided that the books by Galletti and Bredov, "due to their spirit of narration and complete disagreement with the Holy Scriptures, cannot be accepted as textbooks for study".40 It was ordered to immediately withdraw the books from teaching and collect all the copies from students because the books did "more harm than good". Kaydanov's study guide became the only book approved by the Main Board of Schools for teaching world history. The curator was sent 30 copies of Bredov's book collected from students, and "proficient and well-intended" history teachers were strongly advised to "stick to the disposition and spirit of famous historical writings" by Bossuet, Rolland, and Ferrand41
Such an abrupt shift in reference points has to do with Saint Petersburg educational district being taken over by Dmitry Runich, who started persecuting a number of professors at Saint Petersburg University. Konstantin Fisher, one of the then students of Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium and a would-be Senator, wrote in his memoirs that Runich, when attending an examination, was deeply dissatisfied with Fisher's reasoning about the nature of power that he had learned from Galletti's textbook. The curator was indignant at gymnasium students being taught "nonsense". Summing up this story, Fisher wrote regretfully that his reference to the textbook inflicted damage to teacher Yegor Konstantinov, who allegedly received several hundred copies in compensation for his translation of Galletti, which turned to "waste paper" after the book was banned42 Konstantinov was fired in
37 Ibid.
38 Ibid, pp. V, VII.
39 Ibid, pp. VI-VII.
40 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 3083, p. 3(rev).
41 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 3083, pp. 4-4(rev), 6.
42 Quoted after: Kurganovich A. (1880) Istoricheskaya zapiska 75-letiya Sankt-Peter-burgskoy vtoroy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 75th Anniversary of the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, Part 1, pp. 52-54.
November 1822 and deprived of his teacher license "at his own request" in October 1823.43 After the incident with the textbooks by Galletti and Bredov, according to Voronov, another translated book was approved for use in educational institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district for some time: the textbook by Johann Matthias Schrockh, translated by Karl Heinrich Ludwig.44
As can be seen, even schools in Saint Petersburg educational district had a tough time with textbooks at the infancy stage of gymnasium education development. Most often, history teachers used extra-long translated works (Roemer's book is nearly 500 pages long, and the book by Galletti contains about 300 pages). At the same time, the first study guides by Russian authors—Yegor Konstantinov, Yevdokim Zyablovskiy and Ivan Kaydanov — began to emerge. However, such textbooks were clearly not enough. In 1817, Kaydanov lamented that "many wonderful books for children and youth have been published abroad, while sadly very few such works exist in our country"^5 For this reason, local teachers, especially in small towns and villages with poor access to textbooks, often used their own notes or just any textbook available [Pashkova et al. 2019:260]. There is a perception in research literature that school came to be under strict governmental control as early as at the outset of the 19th century [Fedorova 2012:76, 78]. Our study of this issue leads to the conclusion that the Ministry of National Education was not concerned with standardizing school curricula and teaching methods until the late 1820s, as it had no financial muscle to implement this idea or the necessary infrastructure to supervise the implementation effectively [Pashkova et al. 2019:258-259].
New History Teaching Instructions and Textbooks
It was not until December 11, 1824, when Alexander Shishkov was assigned the Minister of National Education, that it was proposed to select strictly defined textbooks for use in all educational institutions4® (for more on this, see [Pashkova et al. 2019:259]). For various reasons,
43 Russian State Historical Archive, Fund no 733. Inv. 20, doc. no 297, pp. 10-10(rev), 27.
44 Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, pp. 329-330; Drevnyaya i no-vaya vseobshchaya istoriya, sochinennaya I. M. Shrekom dlya obucheniya yunosh-estva [Ancient and Modern Universal History Composed by J. M. Schrockh for Teaching to Youth], St. Petersburg, 1824.
45 Kaydanov I. (1817) Rukovodstvo kpoznaniyu vseobshchey politicheskoy istorii. Ch. 1. Drevnyaya istoriya [A Guide to Learning Universal Political History. Part 1: Ancient History], St. Petersburg, p. II.
46 Russian State Historical Archive, Fund no 733. Inv. 87, doc. no 245, p. 1(rev); Sbornik rasporyazheniy po Ministerstvu narodnogo prosveshcheniya [Collection of Orders of the Ministry of National Education], St. Petersburg, 1866, Vol. 1. 1802-1834, no 254.
Table 3. Distribution of gymnasium history course content by grades in compliance with the Outline adopted in 1830.47
Grade Content
3 Introduction and History of Ancient Peoples up to the Romans
4 History of the Roman Empire and European States
5 History of France, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, Hungary, and Other Remarkable States in Other Parts of the World
6 History of Russia
7 Review of course material and compilation of synchronistic tables
Table 4. Distribution of gymnasium history course content by grades approved by the Committee for Organization of Educational Institutions.^
Grade Content
3 Overview of Universal History
4 Ancient History
5 Medieval History
6 Modern History
7 History of Russia
however, the declared idea turned out to be very difficult to actualize. The Ministry had to readdress this problem a decade later, as teachers kept using books of their own "volition" instead of the approved ones49
47 Ibid, p. 23.
48 Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, App. 17, p. 111; Kurganovich A., Krugly A. (1894) Istoricheskaya zapiska 75-letiya Sankt-Peterburgskoy vtoroy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 75th Anniversary of the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, Part 2, p. 29; Anichkov N. (1873) Istoricheskaya zapiska pyatidesyatiletiya Tretyey Sankt-Peterburgskoy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 50th Anniversary of the Third Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, p. 96.
49 Sbornik postanovleniy po Ministerstvu narodnogo prosveshcheniya. 2-e izd. [Collection of Resolutions of the Ministry of National Education. 2nd Edition], St. Pe-
A new Charter of Gymnasiums and Schools was imperially approved on December 8, 1828,5° prescribing to teach history in grades 3 through 7.5-1 On July 16, 1830, the Council of Saint Petersburg University adopted the Outline of Courses in Gymnasiums and Schools in Compliance to the New Charter,52 which specifically stipulated a proper manner of teaching: consistency and accuracy of narration; history should not be confined to memory exercise; etc.53 This document was the first to provide a detailed distribution of course content by grades (Table 3).
However, new instructions followed in two years, changing the curriculum again (Table 4).
According to the newly introduced rules, teaching of Russian history was transferred to senior grades. However, it becomes clear from the documents of Saint Petersburg gymnasiums—there were already a few at that time—that in practice, some information on Russian history began to be given to boys as early as in the 3rd grade in the late 1830s. Gymnasium administrators motivated this decision by the fact that "students who leave gymnasiums in early grades without completing the course will at least have knowledge of Russian history", otherwise it would remain a blank spot to them.54
tersburg, 1875, Vol. 2. Section 1. 1825-1839, no 15; Zhurnal Ministerstva narodno-go prosveshcheniya [Journal of the Ministry of National Education], 1836. Part IX. January-March, pp. XVI-XVII.
50 His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery (1830) Vysochayshe utverzhdenny 8 deka-brya 1828 g. Ustav gimnaziy i uchilishch, uyezdnykh i prikhodskikh, sostoyash-chikh v vedomstve universitetov: S.-Peterburgskogo, Moskovskogo, Kazansko-go i Khar'kovskogo [Charter of Gymnasiums and Schools, Uyezd and Parochial, Affiliated with Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan and Kharkov Universities, Imperially Approved on December 8, 1828]. Polnoe sobranie zakonov Rossiyskoy imperii. Sobranie vtoroe. T. 3 [The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Collection Two. Vol. 3], St. Petersburg: His Imperial Majesty Chancellery, no 2502.
51 Solovyev D. (1880) Pyatidesyatiletie S.-Peterburgskoy Pervoy gimnazii. 1830-1880. Is-toricheskaya zapiska [The 50th Anniversary of the First Saint Petersburg Gymnasium. 1830-1880. A Historical Note], St. Petersburg, p. 107; M. Stasyulevich Publishing House (1886) Pyatidesyatiletie S.-Peterburgskoy Larinskoy gimnazii. 1836-1886. Istoricheskiy ocherk [The 50th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg Lar-in Gymnasium. 1836-1886. A Historical Sketch], St. Petersburg: M. Stasyulevich Publishing House, p. 3.
52 Kurganovich A., Krugly A. (1894) Istoricheskaya zapiska 75-letiya Sankt-Peterburg-skoy vtoroy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 75th Anniversary of the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, Part 2, p. 16.
53 Ibid, p. 22.
54 Anichkov N. (1873) Istoricheskaya zapiska pyatidesyatiletiya Tretyey Sankt-Peter-burgskoy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 50th Anniversary of the Third Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, p. 142; Solovyev D. (1880) Pyatidesyatiletie S.-Peterburgskoy Pervoy gimnazii. 1830-1880. Istoricheskaya zapiska [The 50th Anniversary of the First Saint Petersburg Gymnasium. 1830-1880. A Historical Note], St. Petersburg, p. 181; Pyatidesyatiletie S.-Peterburgskoy Larinskoy gimnazii. 1836-1886. Istoricheskiy ocherk [The 50th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg Larin Gymnasium. 1836-1886. A Historical Sketch], St. Petersburg, 1886,
The situation with textbooks during this period was less ambivalent than at the previous stage. In 1826, a dedicated Committee for Consideration of Study Guides was established under the Committee for Organization of Educational Institutions, which instructed Ivan Kaydanov to compile textbooks on universal and Russian history "in the light of the lack of decent history study guides". In 1828, Kaydanov presented his Outline of History of the Russian State, which was approved for use in gymnasiums on February 3, 1830, according to Voronov.55 A Brief Outline of World History written by professor Kaydanov in 1822 was revised by the author in 1827 and later republished a number of times under the title A Brief Outline of Universal History5 The use of these study guides in Saint Petersburg schools is confirmed by the fact that they are mentioned in the list of textbooks used by the Second and Third Saint Petersburg Gymnasiums.57
In his Outline of History of the Russian State, Kaydanov described the events up until the reign of Alexander I and gave two genealogical tables, of Rurikids and the House of Romanov. Every historical period that he identified traditionally taking cue from Karamzin was followed by a conclusive summary entitled Internal Situation of the Russian State (in modern ages, summaries were provided for each reign). Those summaries gave a brief description of the country's territory, form and structure of government, civil ranks, taxes and duties, legislation and justice, religious affairs, maritime infrastructure and trade, finances, lifestyle, military art, education attainment, sciences and arts, morals and beliefs, etc/8
In 1836, the Committee for Consideration of Study Guides was
p. 14; Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 4474, pp. 7-7(rev), 9, 20(rev); doc. no 4552, p. 1; Russian State Historical Archive, Fund no 733. Inv. 87, doc. no 359, pp. 4-6.
55 Russian State Historical Archive, Fund no 738. Inv. 1, doc. no 1, p. 482; doc. no 2, p. 109, 114(rev), 189, 205-206, 282, 283, 296; Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statis-ticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peterburgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Statistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, p. 329.
56 Kaydanov I. (1822) Kratkoe nachertanie vsemirnoy istorii [A Brief Outline of World History], St. Petersburg; Kaydanov I. (1827) Kratkoe nachertanie vseobshchey istorii [A Brief Outline of Universal History], St. Petersburg.
57 Kurganovich A., Krugly A. (1894) Istoricheskaya zapiska 75-letiya Sankt-Peterburg-skoy vtoroy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 75th Anniversary of the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, Part 2, p. 26; Postels A. (1839) Rukovodstvo dlya roditeley, zhelayushchikh opredelit' detey svoikh vo 2-uyu S.-Pe-terburgskuyu gimnaziyu [Guidelines for Parents Willing to Enroll Their Children in the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, p. 41; Anichkov N. (1873) Istoricheskaya zapiska pyatidesyatiletiya Tretyey Sankt-Peterburgskoy gimnazii [A Historical Note on the 50th Anniversary of the Third Saint Petersburg Gymnasium], St. Petersburg, p. 17.
58 Kaydanov I. (1829) Nachertanie istorii gosudarstva Rossiyskogo [Outline of History of the Russian State], St. Petersburg, pp. 25-32.
dissolved. The Ministry entrusted the approval of new textbooks to the Academy of Sciences or university councils.59 It is difficult to say whether this was a coincidence or not, but Outline of Russia's History by Nikolay Ustryalov was approved to replace Kaydanov's textbook as soon as on January 13, 1837.6° The story of Ustryalov's victory in the competition was studied in detail by Tatiana Volodina [2004:215-218]. At his request, Sergey Uvarov "had the pleasure of humbly presenting" a copy of the book to the Emperor in December 1836, and to the Tsesarevich in January 1837. Both graced the book with their attention: the Emperor accorded his imperial approval, and the Tsesarevich expressed his gratitude to the author^1
In 1830, Yegor Konstantinov published a two-volume textbook on Russia's history. The author made no bones about the book being a compilation "made up of the latest Russian works".62 The original Overview of Russian History published in 1811 was extended (the first part to 267 pages, and the second one, to 410) and somewhat improved. Narration extends until the accession of Nicholas I, and each of the five periods has an appended "chronological table" with columns entitled "Political situation of the Russian state" and "Religion, sciences, and arts". Unfortunately, the documents do not allow tracing further history of Konstantinov's new book: there is neither direct or indirect evidence of using it by Saint Petersburg gymnasium teachers in the 1830s. In addition, although the title page says that the textbook was compiled by a senior teacher of Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium, Konstantinov had not actually worked as a teacher for seven years by then — he had transferred to the Ministry of State Property in October 1823.63 This discrepancy can probably be explained by the fact that there was a long delay between submission and publication of the manuscript.
Kaydanov's textbook on universal history was used by teachers until 1847, when it was replaced with a book by Semen Smaragdov,64
59 Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, p. 335.
60 Ibid, p. 336.
61 Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Fund no 139. Inv. 1, doc. no 4511, pp. 1, 3.
62 Konstantinov Y. (1830) Uchebnaya kniga istorii Gosudarstva Rossiyskogo, sostav-lennaya iz noveyshikh otechestvennykh tvoreniy starshim uchitelem Sankt-Peter-burgskoy gubernskoy gimnazii kollezhskim asessorom Y. Konstantinovym, s priso-vokupleniem letoischislitel'nykh tablits k kazhdomu periodu. Ch. 1-2 [Textbook on the History of the Russian State, Compiled from the Most Recent Russian Books by Y. Konstantinov, Collegiate Assessor and Senior Teacher of Saint Petersburg Governorate Gymnasium, with Appended Chronological Tables for Each Period. Parts 1-2], St. Petersburg.
63 Russian State Historical Archive, Fund no 733. Inv. 20, doc. no 297, p. 28.
64 Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-
teacher of history and geography at the Orphan Institute of the Imperial Gatchina Orphan Home. Smaragdov's guide consisted of three volumes on ancient, medieval and modern history. In the preface to the first volume, the author defined history as a "harmonious and consistent" science, understanding of which requires investigating the causes and effects of various events and phenomena.^ According to Smarag-dov, the best teaching method consisted in the ability to "consider the laws of human cognitive capacity and the organization of schools", which implied learning the facts in the first place and then studying their causes and purposes in order to "extract food for thought and emotion out of them".66 In teaching world history, Smaragdov recognized only the ethnographic method as acceptable.67 He saw the mission of secondary school in introducing students consistently to the most important facts and sources (oral traditions, monuments, government papers, historical writings, etc.) and teaching them to "think about causes and effects", so that they would be able to "understand scientific conclusions and higher perspectives on life and the human race in universities"^ Smaragdov did not regard his guide as dogmatic, implying that an experienced teacher would decide themselves which parts to use and which to skip.69
An approach proposed by Alexander Yazvinsky was adopted in Saint Petersburg gymnasiums in 1836 for teaching chronology "as the foundation of history". The approach was "based on the idea that it is easier to memorize locations and objects available to the eye than <...> sounds or numbers"/0 It was a mnemonic way of learning dates of events and names of rulers using specifically designed tables. Yazvinsky suggested using a board with a large square divided into 100 small squares. The large square symbolized the century, and the small ones denoted years. When memorizing the dates of accession of various princes, kings and emperors, students would cover the respective cells with stamps, repeating the procedure until they made no more mistakes/1 Enthusiasm for this approach, which actually seemed inno-
burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, pp. 336-337.
65 Smaragdov S. (1840) Rukovodstvo kpoznaniyu drevney istorii dlya srednikh ucheb-nykh zavedeniy [Guide to Learning Ancient History for Secondary Educational Institutions], St. Petersburg, p. I.
66 Ibid, p. II.
67 Ibid, p. 10.
68 Ibid, pp. III-IV, 3.
69 Ibid, p. VI.
7° Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zavedeniy S.-Peter-burgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Sta-tistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, p. 150.
71 Yazvinsky A. (1837) Metoda prepodavaniya khronologii istorii g. Yazvinskogo, izyas-nennaya samim zhe izobretatelem [Mr. A. Yazvinsky's Method of Teaching the
Table 5. Textbooks used in Saint Petersburg gymnasiums.
World history History of Russia
Universal History Published by the Main Board of Schools for Use in Gymnasiums by J. J. Roemer An Abridgement of Universal History by Johann Georg August Memorable Events in World History Described by G. G. Bredov. For early studies of history, particularly in uyezd and parochial schools by G. G.Bredov A Course in Universal History by Yevdokim Zyablovskiy A Guide to Learning Universal Political History by Ivan Kaydanov Ancient and Modern Universal History Composed by J. M. Schrockhfor Teaching to Youth by Johann Matthias Schrockh A Brief Outline of World History by Ivan Kaydanov Guide to Learning Ancient History for Secondary Educational Institutions by Semen Smaragdov Overview of Russian History by Yegor Konstantinov Outline of History of the Russian State by Ivan Kaydanov Outline of Russia's History by Nikolay Ustryalov Mr. A. Yazvinsky's Method of Teaching the Chronology of History, Explained by the Inventor Himself by Alexander Yazvinsky
vative in the context of everyday school practices, soon turned to disappointment, and then to outright criticism. Nevertheless, Yazvinsky's approach was used in teaching for a little over a decade (for more on this, see [Pashkova 2019]).
To sum the study up, we present a summary table of textbooks that were definitely or most likely used for teaching history in Saint Petersburg gymnasiums during the first half of the 19th century (Table 5).
Overall, more attention was paid to the study of world history during the period analyzed, and it was only in the second half of the 19th century that the situation changed. The early textbooks were methodologically "void": as Nadezhda Fedorova aptly notes, only the content aspect was taken into account [Fedorova 2012:78]. Obviously enough, such books were very difficult to use due to a huge amount of information, sophisticated wording which was poorly adapted to the age characteristics of students, complete lack of illustrative examples, etc. Most teachers required students to memorize paragraphs mechanically and then reproduce them verbatim in class. However, further research is needed to understand the personal characteristics of the first history teachers of Saint Petersburg gymnasiums and their teaching methods.
Chronology of History, Explained by the Inventor Himself], St. Petersburg, pp. 3-7; Voronov A. (1854) Istoriko-statisticheskoe obozrenie uchebnykh zave-deniy S.-Peterburgskogo uchebnogo okruga s 1829 po 1853 god vklyuchitel'no [A Historico-Statistical Overview of Educational Institutions of Saint Petersburg educational district from 1829 through 1853], St. Petersburg, pp. 150-151.
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