Orphanages on the National Outskirts of the Russian Empire: the Experience of the Syrdarya Regional Guardianship in Russian Turkestan

Abstract

Issues of charity, and in particular, orphanhood, were among the priorities of Russia’s imperial policy, which sought to extend these to the Turkestan Governor-Generalship established in 1867. This article analyzes the problems that arose in the Syrdarya regional guardianship and Tashkent orphanages at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. These problems concerned all aspects of children’s lives. The paper is based on archival material introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The research itself is grounded in the theory of frontier modernization, which stipulates the Russian Empire’s ambition to upgrade its national suburbs, raising them to its own level. In the territory of the Syrdarya region there was the capital of the Turkestan Governor-Generalship situated – the city of Tashkent, where two orphanages operated under the Department of the Institutions of Empress Maria. As a result of the efforts made by the Syrdarya regional guardianship from 1895 to 1917 in the Kaufman and Alexander orphanages, the number of children cared for increased, supplies improved, new houses were built, the territory of the houses was expanded to include gardens and vegetable patches, and the medical care improved. By teaching children physical labor, educators contributed to the social adaptation of orphans. The only aspect that could not be ameliorated, and thus became a major issue for the department of young children of the Kaufman Orphanage, was a very high infant mortality rate, which continued to rise over the years.

Keywords

• russian empire
• turkestan governor-general
• syrdarya regional guardianship
• tashkent
• kaufman orphanage
• alexander orphanage
• labor education
• training system
• internal regulations
• sanitary and medical condition