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