Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin

The role Mariinsky’s girls’ boarding colleges played in the establishment of new norms of daily hygiene (from the second half of nineteenth century to the beginning of twentieth)

Ponomareva V.V.

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of History, Department of Russian History of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, Centre for the History of Russian Culture, Moscow

Ponomareva Varvara V., Ph.D., ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1707-2281, e-mail: varvarapon@mail.ru

Abstract

Above all this work is based on the historical-anthropological method, which explores daily social practices of the second half of nineteenth century. Among the sources of information used for preparation were official docu-ments of empress Maria’s establishments, both published and those kept in archives; specialized medical literature, including periodicals; and documents of personal nature (memoirs, correspondence, diaries), which are particularly important to cultural history. In the second half of nineteenth – beginning of twentieth century, sanitary and hygienic conditions of living surroundings were worsening significantly due to expanding cities, industrial development, and increased growth of population; and, therefore, the study and practice of sanitation and hygiene became one of the leading branches of medicine at a time. Daily school life attracted the doctors’ attention more and more, as by then education encompassed young people from increasingly different social backgrounds – it was becoming more of a mass phenomenon. Hygienist doctors explored both the real-life school conditions and foreign expertise and experience, and defined new rules, which were to be followed in these changing conditions. It is during this period when practical studies were being carried out, which involved everything from drinking water to the correct way of constructing school furniture. The main difficulty for the doctors at a time, however, was not the setting out of the new norms, but persuading the society of their importance. At the start of the twentieth century, there were more than 30 closed girls-only boarding schools under the establishment of Empress Maria throughout the Russian empire from Warsaw to Irkutsk. The schools counted more than 9 thousand students, and that number grew every year. These colleges were ahead of other schools (a lot of experience, thousands of well-prepared students, good management, relatively good funding, patronage of the royal family), and they were at the forefront of both the study and practice of these hygienists-doctors. Here in practice they developed hygiene rules and norms for young people living in a boarding house, the rules which were strictly maintained. This was particularly important, as the colleges brought up future mothers, governesses and teachers, who were destined to share and spread these habits and knowledge. The correct construction of municipal cleansing and purifying systems was one of the major problems of the time. The colleges managed before other establishments to organize modern water supply and plumbing and sewage systems, and to arrange further purifying of drinking water. Every college had bathhouses, water closet rooms with modern equipment, baths and occasionally even shower rooms. As a result of strict discipline, teachers were able to instill daily hygienic skills, which were maintained for the rest of the students’ lives. Mortality rate from tuberculosis was particularly high at a time, which is why the doctors paid particular at-tention to the freshness of the air inside. Ventilation systems in colleges were refined; the amount of students in classes brought down; and daily walks were made longer. Room temperature was cool, which helped the students get used to the cold in general. The students had to spend a lot of time studying during scarcely lit days, so the doc-tors explored various lighting systems. Electric lighting was considered the most hygienic, but it was only imple-mented in some colleges. A new development at the end of the nineteenth century was what we now view as a stan-dard desk. Other school furniture was especially designed to ensure good posture. Specialist hygienist doctors de-veloped school clothes, textbooks (fonts and quality of paper), wall paint and blackboards among other things. For the first time this was discussed both by the specialists and society, which led to a significant improvement in the sanitary and hygiene conditions in colleges and in the students’ health. Because of the doctors’ and other staff’s efforts, the Mariinsky establishment had achieved great success in keeping and improving the students’ good health. The next step was to spread the gained experience and awareness further.

Keywords

historical anthropology, cultural history, daily city life, women’s education, patriarchy, modernization, hygiene and sanitation, department/establishment of empress Maria, closed women’s colleges

Цит.: Ponomareva V.V. The role Mariinsky’s girls’ boarding colleges played in the establishment of new norms of daily hygiene (from the second half of nineteenth century to the beginning of twentieth) // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2013; 2/2013; с. 124-136

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