Svetlana Yurievna Lavrenchuk,
Candidate of Psychological Sciences, St. Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia; Russian Genealogical Society, St. Petersburg, Russia, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
From Generation to Generation: the “Eternal Deposit” as One of the Tools for Solving Social Problems by St. Petersburg Philanthropists and Merchant Bushtuevs
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-4-18
The article is devoted to the family charity projects of the St. Petersburg merchants Bushtuevs and the use of untouchable capital in these projects. Attention is drawn to the possible origins and prototypes of the family charity projects of the late 19th − early 20th century both in this family historical homeland and in St. Petersburg. The article highlights the social conditions, challenges, and problems that led to the implementation of various socially significant initiatives involving untouchable capital, such as the establishment of a parish school, a children’s shelter, and initiatives by local associations involving the Bushtuevs (the Yaroslavl Charity Society and the Society for Assistance to the Natives of Uglich and Its District in St. Petersburg). Based on the analysis of a large body of business documentation created by social institutions organized with the help of target capital, the article provides both a detailed description of the economic aspect of the issue (including detailed data on the revenue and expenditure items of the implemented projects and their comparison), as well as an overview of its semantic, symbolic, and value aspects. It is emphasized that despite the inability to continue the tradition of participation in charity after 1918, the family idea to help developing education, social service, and honoring ancestors has continued in the Bushtuevs’ descendants to nowadays.
Publishing: 28/08/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 29/04/2025
How to cite: Lavrenchuk S.Yu. From Generation to Generation: the “Eternal Deposit” as One of the Tools for Solving Social Problems by St. Petersburg Philanthropists and Merchant Bushtuevs // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 4 (42), pp. 261−276. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-4-18.pdf]
Links: Issue 4 2025
Keywords: charity; merchants; St. Petersburg merchants Bushtuevs; Pokrovskoye village of Uglich uyesd; the shelter in memory of G.S. Bushtuev; family values and traditions; target capital