Questions of socio-political life and socio-economic development of Russia during the period of capitalism have always been in the center of attention of Soviet historians. However, this issue has been studied unevenly. For a long time, researchers ignored, for example, the activities of scientific public organizations, especially scientific and technical societies (NTO), which emerged in the second half of the XIX century due to the industrial boom and the objective needs of the country's economic and cultural development. NTO was widely known and even popular in the scientific and industrial circles of capitalist Russia. The development of the most important problems of the history of Russian science, technology, and culture of this period requires a special study of all forms of social activity of the scientific and technical intelligentsia. By investigating this problem, deepening its disclosure, searching for and summarizing new factual material, we thereby expand our understanding of the nature of social and cultural life in pre-revolutionary Russia. The first studies, but only on some societies, certain aspects of their activities, and even then from the point of view of branch science and technology, appeared in the 1950s. These included books, , and articles describing the most interesting aspects of their social work2 . A generalizing historical essay on the activities of scientific and technical societies, made by a group of authors, mainly the chairmen of the branch NTE of the USSR, was published only in 1968.3 This publication, intended for the general reader, contains fragmentary information about the emergence of some non-profit organizations, selectively covers the most important events in their activities, but the pre-revolutionary period occupies a small place. In the 70s and 80s, works appeared that revealed the network of scientific and cultural - educational societies that existed at that time, showed their public face and place in the political ... Читать далее