Mikhail Semenov

In contemporary Russia, the term “Not-for-Profit Organization” (NPO) has acquired a negative connotation. The project will focus on social organizations or “NPOs” in the Russian Empire during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On the basis of historical sources, the following questions will be addressed: Were NPOs in the Russian Empire necessary for society? Did they copy western organizations? Did NPOs pose a threat to the authenticity of Russian society and to the “Russian world”?

The research will be based on using different historical sources that contain information about the cultural life of certain towns in Central and Eastern Europe during the period from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. The project is expected to: clarify urban culture signs during the marked period, revealed in using historical sources of different European regions (Central and Eastern Europe); correct valuation methodology of urban culture formation level; system characteristic of urban culture phenomenon in regional (European) cultural and historical context in the end of the 19th the beginning of the 20th century.