Abstract: The object of the study is the charitable activities of Moscow entrepreneurs in the pre-revolutionary period. The subject of the study is the hospital named after the brothers P., A., V. Bakhrushins (representatives of the famous merchant dynasty). The authors consider in detail such issues as the contribution of Moscow entrepreneurship to the development of the city, for example, through assistance to the poor or health care support. Special attention is paid to what exactly the money given by Moscow merchants, industrialists or bankers to the city Duma was spent on. The funds invested in the hospital by the Bakhrushin brothers are considered as an example. The authors investigate how the money invested in the specified institution could have been spent and to what extent its activities justified these investments. To answer these questions, the authors studied the materials of the fund of the Central State Archive of Moscow – "Moscow City Duma and Council (1870-1917)". Among the materials found, there is information with a detailed description of the income received for the construction of the hospital, as well as final expenses and those subsequent approximate amounts that the hospital subsequently spent annually on the example of 1897. The methodological foundations of the study include the principle of historicism, the principle of objectivity and the principle of consistency. The main methods used in this study include the historical-genetic and retrospective method.
The main conclusions of the study are that from the standpoint of today, the charitable activities of Moscow entrepreneurs at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries had a deep historical significance. Using the example of the Bakhrushin Brothers Hospital, it was proved that the huge funds donated by Moscow merchants for its creation were not spent in vain and fully corresponded to the activities of this institution. A special contribution of the authors to the study of the topic is the introduction of a new source into scientific circulation – a review of the activities of the Moscow City Duma and a report on the movement of office work in the office for 1897. The novelty of the study lies in a deeper study of the topic of charity of Moscow entrepreneurs, a more detailed study of sources (and the introduction of new materials into scientific circulation), as well as research on how specifically, the money was spent after it was given to the creation of specific institutions.