An Experience of a Reconstruction of the Collective Biography of Nizhny Novgorod Doctors of the turn of the 19th Century

The object of the study is the collective biography of medical and paramedical staff of Nizhny Novgorod Province at the turn of the 19th century. The relevance of the research is connected with the insufficient development of the topic in historiography. Such elements of the collective biography of Nizhny Novgorod doctors as social origin, education, order of promotion, working conditions are considered. Nizhny Novgorod Province was a typical administrative unit of Central Russia, which reflected the characteristic features of the organization of medical care and the state of medical and paramedical personnel. On the other hand, in terms of sanitary and epidemic situation, the region was one of the most problematic parts of the Russian Empire, which was also experiencing all the attendant difficulties of wartime. The article notes that these factors directly influenced the staffing of the province with headquarters physicians, physicians, senior and junior medical assistants, and changes in the working conditions of Nizhny Novgorod doctors. The importance of the Nizhny Novgorod Order of Public Charity as a coordinating body in the field of health in the province is emphasized. The author reveals the main features of the collective biography of Nizhny Novgorod doctors both before entering the service in the institutions of the province and in the Nizhny Novgorod period of their activities, based on the method of prosopography. He analyzes medical personnel in Nizhny Novgorod and in the districts of Nizhny Novgorod Province: Arzamassky Uyezd, Balakhninsky Uyezd, Vasilsursky Uyezd, Knyagininsky Uyezd, Lukoyanovsky Uyezd, Nizhegorodsky Uyezd. The source database is materials of the Central Archive of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. They allow clarifying information on the status and development of the Nizhny Novgorod Province health system at the turn of the 19th century at the regional level. The research is based on the principles of historicism, scientific objectivity, determinism. Methods of analysis, synthesis, as well as comparative-historical and chronological methods are applied. The novelty of the study is in gaining new knowledge about the living conditions and activities of the medical and paramedical personnel of a large trade center of the country at the turn of the 19th century. For the first time, data on the health status of the region are introduced into academic discourse. The author highlights the main features of the collective biography of the medical and paramedical personnel of the province, analyzes the career trajectories of physicians, the most important conditions for promotion, the impact of social origin and education on this process.

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