Zemstvo and museums: experience of museum and local history work in the Olonets province (1871-1916)

The article considers activities of the Olonets province territorial institutions (zemstvo) for development of museum matter in the Russian remote place. Museum activity was one of the directions of out-of-school territorial education, also according to zemstvo it had to increase the educational and cultural level of the population. The territorial museums were created as the practical educational centers for certain industries of territorial activity, i.e. for the system of national education, for the help to agricultural industry, cooperation, medicine, etc. Practically in each district there were established school museums of visual aids, the museums of the local nature and life, “corners of the native land”, exhibitions of hand-made articles of pupils, and exhibitions of the vegetables which are grown up on the school site. Besides within work on development of museum business, Olonets' activists organized various expositions and also participated in the All-Russian and international exhibitions.