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PHJ № 3 (47) 2025 — V. A. Veremenko, Ju. V. Sutula. “THE ART OF PERSUASION” — FOREIGN INFANT FORMULA ON THE RUSSIAN MARKET IN THE LATE 19TH — EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

The article, drawing upon a comprehensive array of sources including advertising materials, professional literature by hygienists and physicians, publications from the specialist and women’s press, as well as corporate records, undertakes a thorough analysis of the pivotal role of advertising agencies in the dissemination of foreign infant formula within the domestic market during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, more than 20 foreign companies offering breast milk surrogates were represented in Russia. The significant cost of these products meant that they were accessible only to the wealthy segment of the country’s population. The advertisement, which promised high-quality, useful and easy-to-use products, was aimed at this educated public. The position of doctors, some of whom participated in the formulas’ advertising, the presence of these companies’ products at all hygiene exhibitions, with the attribution of “proper nutrition”, as well as a well-thought-out advertising campaign, provided foreign manufacturers with an almost monopoly position in the artificial baby food market.

PHJ No 4 (36) 2022 – Z.V. Dmitrieva. Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov (1939–2022)

On April 21, 2022, Mikhail Borisovich Sverdlov, an outstanding historian, source specialist, archaeographer and historiographer, died. The scientist’s entire scientific life was connected with the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he went a long way from graduate student to chief researcher. Mikhail Borisovich was not only Russia’s leading specialist in history, Ancient Rus` and Russian historiography, but also the author of manuals on the history, theory and practice of studying the history of Russia of the 6th–13th centuries.