Education in Smolny -Corps des Pages & Villages

Not obly Krupskaya, quite a lot of "good girls" transferred to the side of the Revolution.
It was  a kind of a fashion.
But , of course,for Krupskaya it was not a fashion.
I think ,she was a quite complicated person: she weared very bad closes, but she used the furniture of Alexandra Feodorvna a Louis-15 in her working cabinet.
She eat on the black oddy "kleenka" buf she liked to drink a good Ceylon tea...

Do you think that Krupskya and others used the furniture and abused the possessions of the Imperial Family as a way of belittling the IF and making themselves feel superior to those they had over thrown?

Or, in Krupskya's case, did she know the worth of the furniture and use it because it was valuable and beautiful.  After all the Revolution was all about "sameness".  No one was special (supposedly) and no one should ever have anything better than any other person.

What happened to Krupskya after Lenin's death?

Hikaru, my I ask what "kleenka" is?

I think that Krupskaya used the furniture because , the table was beautiful and because it was in the palace when she lived at the moment (Big Kremlin Palace).
But she took with her this furniture to the new small Kremlin appartment.
Who knows , why?
I do not think that she wanted to felt herself as "new tsaritsa", en contrary, she did not want to be a new tsaritsa. She was an idealistic bolyshevik.
But she loved power, I think.
Maybe, she had some bad memoirs connected to AF, who knows?

Kleenka is the urgly plastic tableclose of black color (in case of the Krupskaya's one)

I never thought that any of the Bolsheviks thought of themselves as a new "tsar" or tsaritsa".  I know that was not in their way of thinking about things.

I know that they despised the IF and the way they lived in contrast to the ordinary people.  But the Bolsheviks did move right into the royal residences and use the possessions that were there.  Quite a contradiction?

However, since Krupskya had come from a family who could send her to the Smolney, she was perhaps more aware of the value of the material items and less likely to destroy them from anger.

Does anyone know what happened to her after Lenin died?

She lived at estate Gorki and Kremlin and continued to be the Head of the Committee of Education.
But Stalin did his best to cut her power, her influence to the old bolshevicks and masses.

Since the middle of 19th century , along with the getting of the High Education , girls could obtaine also an speciality of an teacher or doctor.

Can anyone elaborate on this?  I'm writing a mystery that takes place in 1880's-1890's St. Petersburg, and my heroine, who attends Smolny, wants to be a doctor. Would she have had to wait until 1897 when the Women's Medical Institute opened or were there any programs before then she could have attended?  What about nurse training?

Thank you!

Fascinating thread!! What happened to the teachers and students after the place was taken over? Did they just disperse?

Just wanted to share some family history passed down about my great grandparents' education in Ukraine. 

Alvina Domroese was born October 6, 1888 in Rokin District, Lutzk, Russia.  The church was Jerico Lutheran, St. Petersburg Synod and they had their own parochial school.  Following Russian law, the Russian language was used in the morning and German in the afternoon.  Once a month the inspector from the Czar would sit in the classroom all morning to make sure the Russian language was being used. The teacher was also the preacher although he was not ordained. When Alvina was 14 years old she was confirmed on March  30, 1903 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Roshischtsche by Pastor Kerm. Four hundred students were confirmed and given Holy Communion in this one long service.  Confirmation ended her formal education.

Samuel was born Sept. 15, 1873 in Sedletz (Charletz) Poland-Russia.   He had not had the opportunity to attend school regularly and he when he did he had an unpleasant experience with the school master.  He and another boy were walking on the railroad track after school hours and coming toward them was the school master.  He asked the other boy if they had to take their caps off and bow or what and the other boy did not know either.  So they just averted their gazes and walked past him.  Then on Monday morning the school master called them up in front of the room and had them put their hands on his desk.  And beat their hands with a whip. 

There is a marvelous young adult book (fiction) published in 1968 by Lothrop, Lee and Shepard-- MASHA by Mara Kay.The author is of Russian descent.  It provides a very detailed account of a young girl's life at the Smolny Institute.  To quote from the blurb:

"Set in Russia a century and a half ago, this book follows Masha through her nine years at Smolni---years during which the shy, protected child grows to be a young women. Mara Kay has evoked the sheltered word of Smolni with authenticity..."

There is also a sequel -- The Youngest Lady in Waiting.

These title are O.P. but you might be able to get them through alibris.com or a library.

Those books are excellent in their authenticity..

Princesse Elena Alexandrovna Lieven (born Davydova) was the head of the Smolny Institute in 1910..till the revolution of 1917.
She also was an freilina of Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna.
Since the middle of 19th century , along with the getting of the High Education , girls could obtaine also an speciality of an teacher or doctor.
Girls also played tennis hardly in the beginning of 20th century.
Girls had a special prononciation - so called an Smolny prononce.
Krupskaya , the wife of Lenin, who gratuated the Smolny also had it.

Princess Elena Alexandrovna Lieven is mentioned a number of times in Mariya Fedorovna's diary.

I have read that Smolyanki had a special "accent". Could you please provide a few examples?  Thanks.

Margarita 

 

All these aristocratic schools had grande dames as their headmistresses.. The writer EM Almedingen who attended the Xenia (a mini Smolny,under the patronage of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna) speaks of the head mistress Princess Eugenie Galitzine.

Princesse Elena Alexandrovna Lieven (born Davydova) was the head of the Smolny Institute in 1910..till the revolution of 1917.
She also was an freilina of Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna.
Since the middle of 19th century , along with the getting of the High Education , girls could obtaine also an speciality of an teacher or doctor.
Girls also played tennis hardly in the beginning of 20th century.
Girls had a special prononciation - so called an Smolny prononce.
Krupskaya , the wife of Lenin, who gratuated the Smolny also had it.

Princess Elena Alexandrovna Lieven is mentioned a number of times in Mariya Fedorovna's diary.

I have read that Smolyanki had a special "accent". Could you please provide a few examples?  Thanks.

Margarita 

 

All these aristocratic schools had grande dames as their headmistresses.. The writer EM Almedingen who attended the Xenia (a mini Smolny,under the patronage of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna) speaks of the head mistress Princess Eugenie Galitzine.

Quite true, there were a quite a few educational elite facilities for young ladies in St. Petersburg, but the Smolny was considered the most elite. The Dowager Empress Mariya Fedorovna was its patron.

Margarita 

In class ca. 1900


Dance class ca 1900


Student


Student


Smolny Institute ca 1900


Ice skating at the Smolny


The chemistry master at the Smolny


Girls from the Fourth Class of the Smolny, April 1904

Fedor Slavyansky "Portrait of a Student of Smolny Institute"

HIS MAJESTY'S CORPS DES PAGES
The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem
Knights of Malta
and the « Corps des Pages », Russia's Dream of Chivalry


http://www2.prestel.co.uk/church/oosj/cpages.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Page_Corps