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PHJ № 4 (48) 2025 — A. A. Chapaev. ON THE UNOBVIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF MARCH 1, 1881: ON THE ISSUE OF THE CREATION OF THE SOCIETY OF LODGING HOUSES IN ST. PETERSBURG AND THE ROLE OF DR. N. N. DVORYASHIN

The article examines the role of Dr. N. N. Dvoryashin in the process of establishing the Society of Lodging Houses in St. Petersburg, one of the most important public organisations that emerged in the capital of the Russian Empire in the last third of the 19th century. The significance of this institution for St. Petersburg as the primary industrial center of the country is considerable. The organisers of this society furnished seasonal workers with affordable and hygienic lodging, a provision that would otherwise have exposed the workers to a considerable risk of illness, homelessness, and criminal exploitation, effectively transforming them from contributors to the city’s economy to a burden on its resources and, in some cases, a potential threat to its stability. Notwithstanding, the implementation of Dr. N. N. Dvoryashin’s concept required a period exceeding a decade. The subject of providing assistance to the homeless was first addressed by him in 1869. However, for there to be any change, events had to unfold in the most unanticipated manner. Indeed, the sequence of events was tragic, yet it proved conducive to the actualisation of the aforementioned concept. It was only after N. N. Dvoryashin’s proximity to the deathbed of the emperor that he was able to initiate the registration of his charitable society. In this regard, particular attention is warranted by the manner in which this process was influenced by the shift in the perception of his personality, contingent on the historical circumstances in which he was destined to become a direct participant.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — A. A. Efimov. THE ISSUE OF ESTABLISHMENT THE INSTITUTION OF JUDICIAL INVESTIGATORS IN PALACE TOWNS

The article addresses one of the problems of the administrative history of palace towns of the mid-19 th century. The author notes that these settlements had a special status in the Russian Empire. They were under the jurisdiction of special institutions of the Ministry of the Imperial Court — palace boards, being largely outside the general system of public administration and local self-government. This special status gave them a certain independence and even the opportunity to engage in some opposition when deciding on the applicability of certain administrative innovations. As noted in the article, this observation also applies to the issue of introducing the institution of forensic investigators. In a significant part of the provinces they began their work soon after the signing of the corresponding decree in the early summer of 1860. The author draws attention to the fact that in the palace towns only in August the question was raised about the possibility of these officials acting on their territory. As the article notes, representatives of the local administration of Peterhof were somewhat enthusiastic about the idea of outsourcing some of the work that fell to the city police, which was considered overloaded. At the same time, the boundaries of the participation of judicial investigators in the proceedings were also specified. In Tsarskoe Selo the situation was different. Despite the declared readiness to transfer the investigative work, officials of the Tsarskoye Selo city police, under various organizational and bureaucratic pretexts, delayed this process. The author notes that in the end, to resolve this issue, the intervention of the St. Petersburg provincial government was required. The latter had to issue an order with direct reference to the imperial decree on the transfer of cases subject to criminal proceedings to a judicial investigator.

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PHJ № 1 (33) 2022 — D. I. Raskin. FROM THE HISTORY OF ONE UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO LEAD THE RUSSIAN PRESS

Published documents contain information on the history of the Press Committee. The creation of this committee was an unsuccessful attempt by Alexander II to direct public opinion by influencing the press. The establishment of the Press Committee was considered in the Council of Ministers (1858). It was a personal initiative of the emperor. The staff of the committee (N. A. Mukhanov, A. V. Adlerberg and A. E. Timashev) was extremely unsuccessful. The inclusion in the committee A. V. Nikitenko helped little. The statute of the committee, created by members of the Press Committee, testified to the “bureaucratic amateurism” of the authors. An attempt by the government to lead the Russian press was doomed to failure. The Press Committee ceased to exist in 1859.