Libraries of the Society for Promotion of Rural Free LibrariesReading Rooms in the Tomsk Province (1901—1919)

The results of scientific research provide a rewarding experience on arrangement and operation of libraries, and reveal their role in the life of individual and society. This article involves a wide range of sources, information from which had not been taken at a full extent by predecessors. The Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries-Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province existed from 1901 to 1919. P.I. Makushin was initiator of its creation and its permanent Chairman. It acted only on the territory of the Tomsk province. The dynamics of opening of libraries by years is presented in the article, and organizational activity of the Council of Society for Promotion is characterized, as well as disclosed the forms and methods of its work. The first library was arranged in late 1902. In 1919, there were already about 600. More than 70% of them were placed in the buildings of rural schools, the rest — in the volost boards, and rarely — in private houses, church buildings and tea charitable institutions on national sobriety. The libraries were mainly managed by teachers of local schools (more than 70%), as well as volost clerks, clergymen and individuals. The considerable part of the circle of reading of visitors focused on fiction and spiritual and moral literature. The books on history, geography and ethnography were also of demand.

Libraries, History of Libraries, Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries-Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province, P.I. Makushin, Reader Interests

1. Khronika [Chronicle], Bibliotekar’ [Librarian], 1911, issue II, pp. 237—244.

2. Pronina M.G. Obshchestvo sodeistviya ustroistvu sel’skikh besplatnykh bibliotek-chitalen v Tomskoi gubernii [Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries and Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province], Knizhnoe delo Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka v XIX— XX vv. [Book Publishing of Siberia and the Far East in the 19th—20th Centuries]. Novosibirsk, GPNTB SO RAN Publ., 1986, pp. 39—50.

3. Staleva T.V. Sibirskii prosvetitel’ Petr Makushin [Siberian Educator Pyotr Makushin]. Tomsk, Knizhnoe Izdatel’stvo Publ., 1990, 245 p.

4. Sergeeva E.F. Ocherki knizhnoi kul’tury Kuzbassa (XIX—XX vv.): monografiya [Essays on the Literary Culture of Kuzbass (The 19th—20th Centuries): monograph]. Kemerovo, KemGUKI Publ., 2008, 191 p.

5. Timofeeva Yu.V. Dve pervye biblioteki Obshchestva sodeistviya ustroistvu sel’skikh besplatnykh bibliotekchitalen v Tomskoi gubernii (pervoe desyatiletie XX v.) [The First Two Libraries of the Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries-Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province (The First Decade of the 20th Century)], Bibliotekovedenie [Library and Information Science], 2017, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 202—208.

6. Timofeeva Yu.V. Knizhnaya kul’tura sel’skogo naseleniya Zapadnoi Sibiri (konets XIX — nachalo XX v.): monografiya [Book Culture of the Rural Population of Western Siberia (The End of the 19th — Beginning of the 20th Century): monograph]. Novosibirsk, SIBPRINT Publ., Tsentr Razvitiya Nauchnogo Sotrudnichestva Publ., 2012, 192 p.

7. Timofeeva Yu.V. Petr Ivanovich Makushin i ustroistvo narodnykh bibliotek v Tomskoi gubernii v nachale XX veka [Pyotr Ivanovich Makushin and the Promotion of Public Libraries in the Tomsk Province in the Early 20th Century], Vestnik Bibliotechnoi Assamblei Evrazii [Herald of the Library Assembly of Eurasia], 2015, no. 3, pp. 88—91.

8. Otchet Soveta Obshchestva sodeistviya ustroistvu sel’skikh besplatnykh bibliotek-chitalen v Tomskoi gubernii za 1908—1909 gg. [The Report of the Council of the Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries and Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province for 1908—1909]. Tomsk, Sibirskogo Tovarishchestva Pechatnogo Dela Publ., 1910, 30 p.

9. Otchet Soveta Obshchestva sodeistviya ustroistvu sel’skikh besplatnykh bibliotek-chitalen v Tomskoi gubernii za 1904—1907 gg. [The Report of the Council of the Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries and Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province for 1904—1907]. Tomsk, Sibirskogo Tovarishchestva Pechatnogo Dela Publ., 1908, 49 p.

10. Kratkii ocherk deyatel’nosti Obshchestva za vremya ego sushchestvovaniya i otchet Soveta Obshchestva za 1910—1912 gg. [A Brief Essay of the Activities of the Society during its Existence and the Report of the Council of the Society for 1910—1912] Tomsk, Doma Trudolyubiya Publ., 1912, 45 p.

11. Kreknin G.Ya. Revnitel’ sveta — P.I. Makushin. 50 let prosvetitel’skoi deyatel’nosti v Sibiri, 1866—1916 gg. [The Zealot of the Light — P.I. Makushin. 50 Years of Educational Activity in Siberia, 1866—1916]. Tomsk, Priyuta i Doma Trudolyubiya Publ., 1916, VIII, 103 p.

12. Makushin P.I. Iz “Avtobiografii” [From the “Autobiography”], Sibirskaya starina [Siberian Antiquity], 2002, no. 19, pp. 35—41.

13. Otchet Soveta Obshchestva sodeistviya ustroistvu sel’skikh besplatnykh bibliotek-chitalen v Tomskoi gubernii za 1901—1903 gg. [The Report of the Council of the Society for Promotion of Rural Free Libraries and Reading Rooms in the Tomsk Province for 1901— 1903]. Tomsk, P.I. Makushina Publ., 1904, 27 p.

14. Khronika [Chronicle], Bibliotekar’ [Librarian], 1912, issue III—IV, pp. 261—277.

15. Khronika [Chronicle], Bibliotekar’ [Librarian], 1912, issue II, pp. 129—138.

16. Prokoshev P.A. Kratkii ocherk zhizni i deyatel’nosti Petra Ivanovicha Makushina: rech’ na torzhestvennom zasedanii po sluchayu poluvekovogo yubileya kul’turnoobshchestvennoi deyatel’nosti pochetnogo grazhdanina goroda Tomska P.I. Makushina — 25 marta 1916 g. [A Brief Essay of the Life and Work of Pyotr Ivanovich Makushin: The Speech at the Solemn Meeting on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Cultural and Public Activity of the Honorary Citizen of the City of Tomsk P.I. Makushin — March 25, 1916]. Tomsk, Doma Trudolyubiya Publ., 1916, 9 p