Schools at Siberian Goldmines in the Late XIX - Early XX Centuries

The history of gold-mining in Siberia has been studied in a number of academic publications, but one aspect of life at goldmines - the development of schools for the population of gold-mining areas -has remained almost unexplored. The objective of the paper is to accumulate and systematize the available information about schools at Siberian goldmines in the 19 - early 20 centuries and to define their role in the social and cultural development of the region. The analysis of schooling for children and adults at Siberian goldmines is possible only on the basis of reports on mining industry. The information about schools for children was included into reports of mining inspection, in particular of district mining engineers and heads of Tomsk and Irkutsk mining areas. These reports informed about the numbers of teachers, pupils and graduates. Most of the reports are stored in the state archives of Tomsk and Irkutsk regions and in the collections of the Mining Department of the Russian State Historical Archive. Reports for 1892-1912 were published in the journals "Almanac of Goldmining and Mining", "News of Mining and Gold-Mining", "Gold and Platinum" as well as in separate publications. Much information about schools at goldmines is provided by the Siberian pre-revolutionary newspapers where news of the life at goldmines often appeared. The article relies on comparative-historical and statistical methods. The author argues that despite some manifestations of higher culture, workers at goldmines devoted their leisure time to traditional entertainments, such as card games and alcohol. Libraries, readings with lampascopes, cinemas existed only at the largest mining enterprises. Most of workers had no opportunities to learn reading and writing, to read books or expand their cultural horizons otherwise. Even in comparison with Siberian countryside, people at goldmines were less provided with schooling, although they were more culturally advanced. They lagged far behind Siberian city-dwellers in their opportunities to provide schooling for children and to satisfy their cultural needs. As gold-mining was mechanized and the development of goldmines progressed, goldmines' operation period increased, their population stabilized and greater opportunities for bringing improvements to everyday life emerged. The rate of children provided with schooling at goldmines increased from 10 to 17 % (see Table 1). It was almost two times lower than the rate of schooling in the countryside. White-collar workers tried to send their children to city schools. As the cultural life at goldmines depended on whims of goldmine owners, the latter were oriented toward their own practical needs; for them, medical care was the most important, schools were in the second place and the sphere of leisure was largely the domain of employees' initiative and activities. Moving further into the taiga, gold-mining established permanent and temporary settlements which required the opening of schools and cultural institutions. Often involuntarily, entrepreneurs promoted the industrial way of life and self-conscience and the cultural development of the Siberian space.

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