The legacy of the teacher Karl Ivanovich May (1820–1895) in the collections of the Museum of the history of the school in his name

Abstract

In 2020, the bicentennial of the birth of Karl Ivanovich May (1820–1895), the St. Petersburg teacher-practitioner known in the pre-revolutionary period of Russian history, is celebrated. In the 20th century his name was forgotten. Since 1995, on the initiative of N.V.Blagovo and with the active support of the May graduate, Academician D. S.Likhachev, the Museum of the History of Karl School was created in the former building of the May School. Its permanent director is N.V.Blagovo. By the anniversary date, the director, employees and friends of the museum did a great job of creating a collection of materials related to life and work Karl Ivanovich May. Based on the collected sources, a book is planned to be published. The article considers and analyses the materials of the three main sections of the collection (biographical, pedagogical and memoir). Biographical materials are presented: translation of the biography of K.I.May in 1907, typed in German Gothic script, made by Yu.E.Nefyodov in 1985; a speech by F.I.Wind (“Leader to the Light”), also translated by Yu. E.Nefyodov; and the biography of K.I.May created by M.T.Valiev. A significant part of historical sources contains information about K.I.May as ateacher: the ode “Voice of the heart” by M.E.Dobropistsev, a report on the pedagogical activities of the school in 1881, a speech by K.I.May (1890), as well as his article “Do I need to ask students lessons on vaccinations?”. A valuable section in the collection are memoirs (A.N.Benois, E.F.Blessig, N.A.Bruni, V.A.Giltebrandt, N.A.Epanchin, I.V.Petrashen’, D.P. Semyonov-Tyan -Shansky, R.A.Tishbein).