Unknown Catalog of the Library of Kharkiv Collegium of 1823

Abstract

The article for the first time aims to investigate the catalog of the library of Kharkiv Collegium of 1823. Since the document was concluded shortly after the Kharkiv Collegium was transformed into a seminary, it recorded the final stage of the history of this library. By comparing the catalog of 1823 with the known previous catalogs (1753 and 1769) the task is to identify the dynamics and determine the essential characteristics of those changes in the book collection that occurred in the last third of the 18th – early 19th centuries. The importance of such intelligence is enhanced by the fact that in the first decade of the 19th century Kharkiv Collegium experienced the moment of its greatest development, completeness and number of academic disciplines taught there. In the course of researching the catalog of 1823, the quantitative composition of the collection (3228 manuscripts and printed books), the ratio of books published in different languages, the content of thematic "departments" of the library were analyzed. All parameters were considered with an emphasis on the growth of the library, which was observed after 1769. The study revealed that the collection of the Kharkiv Collegium in 1823 accumulated an array of modern scientific books from almost all fields of knowledge. They were supplemented by numerous natural-scientific works of a generalizing nature. The catalog of the library of 1823 presents the most important at that time textbooks in each of the sciences. The study of this catalog refuted several well-known claims based on the results of the analysis of the catalog of 1769 (in particular, the lack of works in the library that contained new ideas in literature, philosophy, science). The catalog of 1823 fully reflects the changes in the educational process that took place in colleges since the 1760s and continued in the early 19th century. Significant volumes of new educational literature testify to the birth of a new format of the library of this school, and the change of its mission. Since then, the library has performed not only the function of storing the most necessary books for study, but also rare editions and manuscripts. From the last third of the 18th century, the book collection of the library demonstrates a close connection with innovations in the educational process, a quick response to the challenges of the time, as evidenced by the emergence of new scientific and educational literature. At the beginning of the 19th century, the collection of books of Kharkiv Collegium acquired distinct features of the library of modern educational institution.