Evgeniya Vladimirovna Pshenichnaya,
Candidate of Historical Sciences, State Public Scientific Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, e‑mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Role of Russian Settlers in the Creation of Public City Libraries in Samarkand and Novyi Margilan (Ferghana) in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Based on the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2025-5-3
The article highlights the contribution of Russian settlers to the development of the cultural infrastructure of Novyi Margilan (Ferghana) and Samarkand at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a focus on the establishment of the first public libraries: Novyi Margilan City Library (1899) and Samarkand City Library (1910). Conflicting assessments of the activities of the region’s first library institutions necessitated an analytical study. The work is based on an analysis of archival documents, which allow us to trace the evolution of librarianship and the sociocultural role of the first city libraries in the region’s academic and social life. A number of special historical methods were used as the methodological basis for the study, the main ones being the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematicity. The collections of the city libraries of Novyi Margilan and Samarkand include rare editions and local history scientific literature on various aspects of the study of Central Asia from the personal book collections of famous Russian scientists V.L. Vyatkin, N.S. Lykoshin, V.N. Weber, and others. Using their personal libraries as examples, this study revealed the distinctive features of these collections, created in accordance with the interests, information needs, tastes, and preferences of book collectors. These collections formed the core of modern rare book departments, thanks to which the information and library institutions of Samarkand and Fergana continue to be leading centers for the preservation and study of the region’s book heritage. The study revealed the importance of studying the personal libraries of Russian immigrants as a tool for developing library activities that contributed to the formation of a unified cultural space in pre-revolutionary Turkestan.
Publishing: 28/10/2025
The article has been received by the editor on 21/07/2025
How to cite: Pshenichnaya E.V. The Role of Russian Settlers in the Creation of Public City Libraries in Samarkand and Novyi Margilan (Ferghana) in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Based on the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan) // Historical Courier, 2025, No. 5 (43), pp. 29−39. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2025/ISTKURIER-2025-5-03.pdf]
The article was prepared according to the plan of research work of the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences as part of the scientific project No. 122041100088-9 “Transformation of Book Culture in Social Communications of the 19th−21st Centuries”.
Links: Issue 5 2025
Keywords: Turkestan Region; Russian settlers; personal libraries; Turkestan Public Library; city libraries of Samarkand and Fergana