The article reveals the life and activities of the Talantsevs merchants family in the pre-revolutionary Chuvashia. At the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century, along with entrepreneurship and commercial activities, the Talantsev brothers were also engaged in charity. Unlike many other merchants, who proved themselves primarily as benefactors in the development of temple construction and public charity facilities of religious type, members of the Talantsev family distinguished themselves in the enlightenment direction — in the construction of schools, hospitals, libraries, cultural and educational institutions in multinational Chuvashia, in the organization of agriculture and household life, in preservation and further development of the ethnoculture of Russian and Chuvash peoples. The Talantsevs were particularly active in promoting secular culture and books among the population. That was clearly expressed in their participation in the development of public, factory and private family libraries. The partially preserved library of the Talantsev brothers, located since 1954 in the structure of the National Library of the Chuvash Republic, is a rare example of the noble service of representatives of the merchants of Chuvashia to book culture, enlightenment and preservation of the ethnoculture of the peoples of the Middle Volga region. The historical experience and traditions of merchant families in organizing charity in the field of culture, interrupted in October 1917 and partially revived in the practice of modern entrepreneurs, can now be used in the educational process in all types of educational institutions, taking into account modern realities.