Libraries of the Komi Region as an Element of Civil Society Formation in Ethnical Regions of Imperial Russia. The Second Half of the 19th — Early 20th Century
The article considers the activities of libraries in the Komi region as an element of the civil society formation in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century. Published and unpublished historical sources are used to reconstruct the libraries’ activities. They are well known to experts, and yet some issues have never come to the researchers’ notice. The author proposes to include materials on the history of librarianship in the Komi region in the context of studying issues of everyday life and civil society formation in the region. In the studied period there were libraries of various types in the region: public, clerical, monastic, and those of educational institutions. The latter were replenished at the expense of the Ministry of National Education or by donation. Clerical and monastic libraries were sponsored by the Vologda Spiritual Consistory, Synod, and Ministry of National Education. In the second half of the 19th – early 20th century the libraries of the Komi region catered cultural needs of the population, organizations and unions and promoted civil society formation.