Collection of textbooks and publications on education in Russia in the library of Count P.A. Valuev

The book collection of the famous Russian statesman of the XIX century Count Peter Alexandrovich Valuev (1815-1890) was acquired by the Ministry of Public Education in 1885 for a university under construction in Tomsk. This article is dedicated to the content study of this book collection, stored in the Scientific Library of TSU. The subject of the study is a collection of educational books and publications on the reform of the public education system in Russia in the 1860s. The main task is to study them in the context of state activities and personal characteristics of P.A. Valuev. The methodological basis of the research is bibliological and cultural-historical methods. The article presents the results of studying textbooks and publications of a legislative nature on education in Russia, included in this collection. In studying the collection, the entries in Valuev's diary, made in the period from 1861 to 1868, when he headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, were of a great help. The article provides brief information about the state activities of Valuev in the period from 1860 to 1880. On the eve of the Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia, the Ministry of Public Education, realizing the unsatisfactory state of educational institutions in the country, made a decision about their transformation. In 1856, they began with a revision of the university charter and the charter of gymnasiums and schools, adopted during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I. Only in the 1860s a consideration of the drafts of these charters prepared by this time had began. The first part considers publications related to the development of the new charters for educational institutions in Russia in the 1860s, which give an idea of the specific documents which Valuev worked with. “The Draft of the General Charter of Imperial Russian Universities” is presented in the collection in three different editions, published in 1862. The last draft of the charter, developed by members of scientific committee of the Ministry, was taken as the basis for the new university charter, which was published in 1863. The collection also contains “The Draft of the Charter of general education institutions”, as well as the “Charter of gymnasiums and pro-gymnasiums”, published in 1864. Numerous notes in copies belonging to Valuev, indicating his work on these projects, were analyzed. Another part of the collection - textbooks - gives an unusual touch to the owner's personality. The features of textbooks stored in the library are identified and the publication histories of some of them are revealed. Among those are copies of textbooks on trigonometry, chemistry, zoology, botany, etc., which contain the notes of his youngest son Nikolai. Being a highly educated person, Valuev appreciated good textbooks: not only he acquired them for his son, but also stored them in his library, despite the remaining traces of Nikolai's diligent work with these books during his studies. The content of the collection, somewhat unusual for Count Valuev, which is considered in this article, emphasizes the cultural and historical significance of his library.

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