Revisiting the Pedagogical Periodical Press in the Odessa Educational District (1864–1917)

This paper examines the pedagogical periodical press in the Odessa Educational District in\r\nthe period 1864–1917. It considers the geographical distribution of these publications and gives an\r\ninternal criticism of them as historical sources.\r\nThe principal sources for this study were prerevolutionary publications published in the\r\nOdessa Educational District (Izvestiya Odesskogo Uchebnogo Okruga and Vestnik Opytnoy Fiziki\r\ni Elementarnoy Matematiki) and reference publications concerned with the imperial-period\r\nRussian periodical press. Methodologically, use was made of the content-analysis method,\r\nemployed to draw a sample of journals published at different times in the Odessa Educational\r\nDistrict. Of importance was the use of the retrospective method, employed to construct this work in\r\nhistorical sequence.\r\nThe study’s findings revealed that, despite the fact that there were just five academic\r\npedagogical publications in the Odessa Educational District, these were of considerable interest.\r\nMore specifically, the journal Vestnik Opytnoy Fiziki i Elementarnoy Matematiki was published in\r\nOdessa for more than 20 years and was one of Russia’s first popular-science publications\r\nconcerned with mathematics and physics. Of interest is also the operation of one of Russia’s first\r\npedagogical newspapers, Shkol'noye Obozreniye, published in Odessa weekly from 1889 to 1892.\r\nLastly, in 1913 they launched in Odessa one of Russia’s first narrowly specialized publications\r\nconcerned with student excursions and school museums – the journal Shkol'nyye Ekskursii i\r\nShkol'nyy Muzey