The ‘Local Society’ of Ust-Sysolsk, Vologda Gubernia in the Second Half of the 19th Century

Print PDF

УДК 94(47)

DOI 10.28995/2073-0101-2018-3-783-792

Anna K. Gagieva

Komi Republican Academy of State Service and Administration, Syktyvkar, Russian Federation

The ‘Local Society’ of Ust-Sysolsk, Vologda Gubernia in the Second Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

The article analyses activities of the ‘local society’ of Ust-Sysolsk, Vologda gubernia in the second half of the 19th century. It draws on both published and unpublished historical sources to reconstruct its history. These are known to researchers of problems of culture and education of the Komi population. However, the term ‘local society’ is rarely used. The author defines ‘local society’ of the uezd town of Ust-Sysolsk of the second half of the 19th century as a voluntary self-identifying association of citizens, codified or not, conceived on a on-going basis in order to solve urgent problems of non-productive and non-commercial nature. In the studied period in Ust-Sysolsk there were a boys gymnasium and a girls one, a town school, a vocational school, and a religious college, and also several a parochial and uezd schools. Teachers, town and uezd officials, merchants and townspeople formed the ‘local society.’ The intelligentsia made up for absence of cultural and educational institutions in the town by creating public organizations, whether spontaneously and in an organized way. The spectrum of the Ust-Sysolsk ‘local society’ activities covered spheres of education, charity, organization of public libraries and reading rooms, leisure and scientific expeditions, collecting of ethnographical materials. Cultural and educational activities were purely amateur, of non-professional nature. And yet it bolstered the development of theatre, music, and visual arts in the town. There also were societies ‘just for fun.’ These organized soir?es, feasts, masquerades; in winter constructed an ice rink. The Ust-Sysolsk ‘local society’ had its peculiar features, such as clear differentiation of the citizens’ cultural values and new forms of public associations. Its many events and activities prompted community connections. The ‘local society’ was a ‘school of citizenship’ of sorts, meaning that it produced a sense of public service, duty, and national pride. Performing its different functions, it complemented top-down governance. As it had a dual nature (the nature of its activities was both public and state), in course of reforms the ‘local society’ continued to develop its public spirit.

Download the article: gagieva_doi

Keywords

Public life, Ust-Sysolsk, «local society», modernization, self-organization, daily, values.

Refrences

BONDARENKO, O. E. Uchebnye zavedeniya v Komi krae v kontse XIX- nachale XX vv. [Educational institutions in the Komi region in the late 19th – early 20th century. In Russ.]. Syktyvkar, 1998, 167p.

Istoriya Komi s drevneishikh vremen do kontsa ХХ veka [History of Komi from ancient times to the late 20th century. In Russ.]. In 2 vol. Vol. 1. Syktyvkar, 2004, 560 p.

KAZAKOVA- APKARIMOVA, E. Yu. Formirovanie grazhdanskogo obshchestva: gorodskie soslovnye korporatsii i obshchestvennye organizatsii na srednem Urale (vtoraya polovina XIX – nachalo XX v.) [The formation of civil society: town estates corporations and public organizations in the middle Urals (the second half of the 19th – early 20th century). In Russ.]. Ekaterinburg, UrO RAN publ., 2008, 288 p.

Kulturnaya zhizn Komi kraya 1800–1917 gg. Sbornik dokumentov i materialov [The cultural life of the Komi region 1800-1917. Collection of documents and materials. In Russ.]. Syktyvkar, 2017, 263 p.

MIRONOV, B. N. Sotsialnaya istoriya Rossii perioda imperii (XVIII – nachalo XX v.). Genezis lichnosti, demokraticheskoi sem’i, grazhdanskogo obshchestva i pravovogo gosudarstva [Social history of the Russian Empire (18th – early 20th century.): Genesis of personality, democratic family, civil society, and legal state. In Russ.]. In 2 vol. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg, 1999, 189 p.

ROGACHEV, M. B., TSOI, A.I. Ust-Sysol’sk: Stranitsy istorii [Ust-Sysolsk: Pages of history. In Russ.]. Syktyvkar, 1989, 123 p.

RYNDZYUNSKII, P. G. Krestyane i gorod kapitalisticheskoi Rossii vtoroi poloviny XIX veka [The peasants and the city of capitalist Russia in the second half of the 19th century. In Russ.]. Moscow, 1983, 289 p.

TUMANOVA, A. S. Obshchestvennost’ i formy ee samoorganizatsii v imperskoi Rossii kontsa XVIII – nachala XX vv. [The public and forms of its self-organization in Imperial Russia in the late 18th – early 20th century. In Russ.]. IN: Otechestvennaya istoriya, 2007, no. 6, pp. 58–64.

About author

Gagieva Anna Kapitonovna, PhD in History, associate professor, Komi Republican Academy of State Service and Administration, professor, Syktyvkar, Russian Federation, +7-909-122-21-23, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitted 7.02.2018, published:

GAGIEVA, A. K. “Mestnoe obshchestvo” g. Ust'-Sysol'ska Vologodskoi gubernii vo vtoroi polovine XIX v. [The ‘Local Society’ of Ust-Sysolsk, Vologda Gubernia in the Second Half of the 19th Century. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2017, no. 3, pp. 783-792. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2018-3-783-792

You can read completely article in the russian historic-archival magazine “The Herald of an Archivist”. Read more about terms of subscription here.

Полностью материал публикуется в российском историко-архивоведческом журнале ВЕСТНИК АРХИВИСТА. Ознакомьтесь с условиями подписки здесь.