Reforms of Peter the Great – in the jubilee year of Romanov dynasty

The year of 310th anniversary of St Petersburg and the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty the Presidential Library presents significant and relevant materials about the founder of the city, Emperor Peter the Great.

February 15, 1717 was first published the textbook "An Honest Mirror of Youth", which became a guide for the education of the next generation of youth, oriented to service the state and working for the benefit of the service. The book became a bestseller of its time, it had withstood many reprints. Only in 1717 it was reprinted twice and continued to be issued until 19th century. "An Honest Mirror of Youth" - its fifth edition - is held by the Presidential Library in electronic form and available at: www.prlib.ru.

Emperor Peter’s reforms affected almost all aspects of life, turning upside down the usual understanding of Russia and the views of compatriots, including those of their own predestination. The rare book "Actions and amusements of Peter the Great," published in 1895, includes stories by soldier Nikita Ivanovich Kashin, who served under the Emperor and left his memoirs. They became known owing to the Society of Ancient Literature that issued the memoirs. Even the names of sketches show that the emperor eradicated habits of the Old Russia adopted by the "Moscow" tsars. Thus, the book tells stories "On Peter’s clothes and his displeasure if someone meeting him in the street, bowing, stopped", "On the intercession of Admiral General O. M. Apraksin for young children of the nobility, sent by order of the tsar to ram in the piles on Moika River." The Presidential Library provides open access for users to an electronic copy of the "Civil alphabet with moralizing" with amendments of Peter the Great and his decree on the introduction of the civil script.

Reforms required new approaches to the education, formation of modern men. At the command of His Imperial Majesty was written " An Honest Mirror of Youth, or Indication for worldly manners, collected from different authors," first issued in 1717. It was intended for the education of young people from noble families.

The book is divided into two parts. One part is a training manual for studying civil script and Arabic writing of numbers, introduced by decree of Peter I in 1708 instead of the former Church Slavonic signs. It included the alphabet, numbers, and "Morality of the Holy Scriptures." The second part contains the rules of behavior for boys and girls of the nobility. Beyond these instructions one can guess the desire to educate a person who is proud of his actions, and not of riches; who honors seniors, is not talkative and can “compliment someone and agree with someone’s opinion if it is adequate and appropriate.”

Materials and documents about the deeds of Emperor Peter the Great have something in common with digital collection of unique books dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. It will be presented by the Presidential Library in February 2013 and is a continuation of a series of events. Thus, under the video lectures series "Knowledge about Russia" scientists delivered their lectures and analyzed the reign of Romanov dynasty basing on different examples. Jointly with the State Museum-Preserve "Tsarskoye Selo" and the Russian State Historical Archives, the Presidential Library issued a wall calendar with reproductions of portraits of the royal dynasty. It is also planned to organize an exhibition dedicated to the anniversary. The reign of the Romanov dynasty requires deep study and interpretation. It is from the analytical point of view based on the documents and materials held by the Presidential Library, this national information, scientific, educational and cultural center is carrying out the work.