Abstract: The subject of the study is housing conditions, diet, organization of life in orphanages of the Yenisei province after the end of the Civil War. In the conditions of mass homelessness and juvenile delinquency, the state sought to take care of all children in need, to re-socialize them and make them useful citizens of the new state. On the basis of archival materials, the living conditions of minors in orphanages in the early Soviet period are analyzed. Of all the institutions of social and legal protection of childhood operating during the study period, orphanages were selected as the most widespread institutions. The leading method of research was historical and anthropological.

The article emphasizes the desire of the young Soviet state to make orphans and street children useful citizens of society. The authors come to the conclusion that the network of children's social institutions in the province, dispersed across different people's commissariats, did not cover all children in need of care and assistance, the operating orphanages could not cope with the tasks assigned to them, contributed little to the preparation of pupils for future independent life, but helped them survive in the difficult conditions of the period under study. The work of institutions was primarily affected by financial difficulties, budget deficit, lack of teaching staff, lack of systematic interaction in the activities of state bodies and public organizations involved in solving the "children's issue" in one way or another.

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the examination of work of the public organizations of Yeniseian Governorate in resolution of the questions of universal education. The chronological framework of the research capture the period after the adoption of law of Provisional Government of March 4, 1906 “Temporary Rules about Societies and Unions” and until the Revolution of 1917. Examination of the question at hand using the materials of Yeniseian Governorate allows forming the perception about which events took place in the regional life, as well as country as a whole. Analysis of the work of s public organizations in the studied period clarifies the level of comprehensiveness of the civil society institutions in pre-revolutionary Russia. The scientific novelty is defined by introduction into the academic discourse of the new, previously unpublished archive materials, which allowed reconstructing the activity of public organizations in the field of education using the example of Yeniseian Governorate. The article provides analysis of implementation of the system of social measures on distribution of education in the region, as well as gives assessment to the level of efficiency of local public organizations in addressing this issue.