Charitable Activities: Periodization, Types, Examples (Based on the Materials of the United State Archive of the Orenburg Region)

Abstract

This research study’s aim was to examine the development of philanthropic activities in Orenburg from the 19th to early 20th century, focusing on their institutional pathways, functional classifications, and social dimensions. This study contextualizes philanthropic initiatives within the ideological, confessional, and political framework of late imperial Russia, analyzing how these practices influenced social welfare and perpetuated hierarchical structures, rather than depicting charity as solely altruistic. In the course of the study, historical-critical, comparative, generalization, historical-genetic, retrospective, and system-structural analysis and data volume analysis methods are used. As a result of the conducted study, it is identified that charitable activities in Orenburg in the 19th to early 20th centuries were conducted very actively. At that time, in Orenburg, benefactors opened several important institutions of a religious and educational nature, which had a substantial impact on the state of culture and society in general. Among such institutions were the St. Olga's Orphanage, opened in 1872, the Burnaev madrasah, the mosque and the Khusainiya madrasah, opened in 1891. The resources from this study may be used in further research on the subject, and the findings may enhance understanding of attitudes toward charity acts in modern society.