Formation and Development of Female Gymnasium Education in the City of Chita (1893–1921)

The article analyzes the role of women’s gymnasiums in the city of Chita in public education system of the Trans-Baikal Region of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, based on documents from the State Archives of the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Irkutsk Region. The author considers the main aspects of the activities of educational institutions: the problems of the creation and existence of female gymnasiums, the organization and content of the educational process, the material base, and also pays attention to the issue of training teachers for secondary educational institutions. The analysis of the level of knowledge of the topic, the content of archival funds is carried out. The research methodology is based on the application of the method of functional analysis, historical-genetic and historical-comparative methods. The source base of the study is presented by the reporting documentation of the gymnasiums, including design and estimate, for different years of their existence, correspondence of superiors with higher officials on the organization of the educational process and others. The article is illustrated with a large volume of photographic materials – photographs of the commanding persons, students and educational buildings of the indicated educational institutions. However, in spite of a sufficient number of archival documents, the researchers did not submit extensive work on the activities of women’s gymnasiums in the Trans-Baikal region. At the end of the article, the author provides an assessment of the activities of the Chita women’s gymnasiums. The study is timed to celebrate two anniversaries: the 115th anniversary of the opening of the Second Women’s Gymnasium (1906) and the 110th anniversary of the Private Women’s Gymnasium of O. M. Tsinbal-Miklashevskaya (1911).