NOMINAL GRANTS AS A CHARITY FORM IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN SIBERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE 19TH – EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The paper considers the significance of a particular form of charitable activities: nominal grants – for the development of secondary education inWestern Siberia. The grant terms defined by the donors (territorial, religious, caste and other) are analyzed and presented. The purpose of grants and causes of introducing new scholarships are outlines (they were: anniversaries, expression of loyalty to the emperor, the desire to perpetuate one’s name, Christian generosity and other). The paper researches not only the role of individual benefactors, but also that of various groups of population, the community and local authorities who organized targeted scholarship assistance to students of high schools for boys and girls and vocational schools. The study revealed that both the local government and the civil society were actively involved in the process, which was most notable in the period of rapid socio-economic development of the region in the second decade of the 20th century. However, a comparative analysis of the West Siberian school district with the European part of the Empire and, in particular, with the Warsaw school district, suggests that this form of philanthropy in Siberia and did not have enough time to develop widely before the emergence of the Soviet power.