Teaching History to Petersburg Gymnasium Students in the First Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

This article explores the practices of teaching history in men’s gymnasiums of the first half of the 19th century in Petersburg, analyzing the curricula, the content of textbooks, and examinations as well as theoretical developments and methodological techniques in the design of textbooks on world and Russian history. At the infancy stage of gymnasium education development, the focus was on teaching world history. Meanwhile, even schools in Petersburg had great difficulty in selecting the textbooks. Handbooks written by foreign authors and, later, Petersburg instructors, represented bulky volumes with no illustrative material or teaching methodology.