“Tomsk diocesan journal” as a source on the history of healthcare service in Tomsk province (the last quarter of the XIX - early XX century)

In this article the edition “Tomsk diocesan journal” is considered as a source on the history of medicine and healthcare service in Tomsk province of the last quarter of the XIX - early XX century. The novelty of the study is that this edition was practically not used in scientific works devoted to history of medicine and healthcare service. The purpose of this article is to identify main aspects of the healthcare system history of the region reflected in the newspaper “Tomsk diocesan journal”, this will expand the sources of research on the history of medical affairs. To realize this goal, the authors studied the newspaper issues for the entire period of its existence (1880-1917) and found more than 100 articles and notes devoted to medicine and public health. The article gives an overview of the edition (the target audience is determined, issue structure, nature of publications, number of pages) and also reveals the dynamics of the output of articles that are thematically related to the history of medicine and healthcare service. Among other things, publications in the “Tomsk diocesan journal” about the medical affair were divided into groups in accordance with the question raised in them. The following groups are named: materials containing information about hospitals (hospitals at the Tomsk Theological Seminary, Tomsk Diocesan Women's College, hospital in Ulala, etc.), publications on epidemics (in particular, the edition detailed the cholera epidemic in 1892), publications on the medical and curative activities of priests, notes on methods of treatment. Also, articles were reviewed that reflected ideas about the duty of a doctor and an understanding of the nature of the disease. This article describes the characteristics of each group of publications, including the frequency of publication. Thus, the reports on hospitals published in the newspaper most often contained information on the number of patients, expenses, and staff. Materials on epidemics covered the scope of the disease, mortality, measures to prevent further development of the disease, participation of clergymen in the organization of the fight against epidemics, etc. Based on the material examined, authors concluded that the newspaper “Tomsk diocesan journal” contains a variety of information on the history of medicine and healthcare service of the Tomsk province in the last quarter of the XIX - early XX century and is a valuable historical source. The degree of objectivity of the published material depends on the type of publication, the most objective are official reports and statistical data. Author's notes could be brought to characterize the views on medicine that were spread in the society. Among other things, the newspaper contains a unique material that is difficult to identify by other sources, in particular, information about the healing activities of the clergy.

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