G. F. Parrot’s memorandum to emperor Nicholas I on the foundation of the Professorial institute: a study and publication of the document

Abstract

The article examines the activities of academician Georg Friedrich Parrot, associated with the emergence of the Professorial Institute in Dorpat. Parrot himself was for a long time a professor at Dorpat University and understood well the need to train national professors for the universities of the Russian Empire. Questions of public education turned out to be the central topic in the correspondence of G. F. Parrot with both Emperor Alexander I and Emperor Nicholas I. It was Parrot who became the author of the note Mémoire sur les universitiés de l'interieur de la Russie, the main idea of which was embodied in an educational institution established in 1827, designed to train domestic professors. Nicholas I generally supported Parrot's project, even though the project caused mixed assessments in the Committee for the Arrangement of Educational Institutions. For the fi rst time, Parrot's note is published in full and introduced into scientifi c circulation in French (original language) and translated into Russian. The location of the original note in the fund of the Committee for the Arrangement of Educational Institutions and its copy in the fund of the Department of Public Education has been clarifi ed. An analysis of scientifi c papers devoted to the organization and initial activities of the Professorial Institute showed that the researchers mainly turned to the documents of the Committee published at the end of the 19th century, and not to the original of Parrot's note. The author comes to the conclusion that the publication and full introduction into scientifi c circulation of the text of the project of Academician G. F. Parrot will be an important contribution to the history of the Dorpat Professorial Institute, university history, as well as the history of higher education in the Russian Empire.