Charity house named after Feodor and Praskovya Sergeevs: history of creation and place in the system of social guardianship of Bezhetsk in the Tver province

This paper describes the largest private charitable initiative in the history of Bezhetsk, a small county town in the northeast of the Tver province. The House of Charity named after F.S. and P.I. Sergeevs, a poorhouse for 50 people with chapel, was opened in 1903. The merchant's widow Praskovya Ivanovna Sergeeva donated thirty thousand rubles for the construction of a house and inviolable capital of one hundred thousand rubles to ensure its work. The article examines the socio-economic and historical prerequisites for the creation of a charity house named after the Sergeevs, and also evaluates the effectiveness of this charitable project in solving the problems of social guardianship of a small town. The issues of organization, management and functioning of the charity house and the role of inviolable target capital in its provision are studied in detail.