Abstract: This article explores the factors for conducting administrative reforms in the United States in the area of public health. For detailed consideration, the author selected New York City as an example the largest metropolitan area that faced aggravation of social problems due to the shortcomings in the existing public health system. Rapid increase in the number of resident in the conditions of significant growth of population density led to proliferation of the dangerous infectious diseases, for elimination of which local authorities had to take prompt actions of state regulation, including creation of the new administrative branches. Special attention is given to the treatment of tuberculosis and preventive measures thereof, namely the importance of tracking all new cases. In studying public health system of New York City, the author applied interdisciplinary approach that ensured comprehensive and objective outlook upon the problems of poorest population groups of the city. Comparative-historical method was used juxtapose the situation in New York and typologically similar US metropolises. Chronological method allowed tracing the patterns in evolution of administrative innovations, and assessing them in a single historical perspective. The main conclusion consists in the statement that private medicine appeared to be insufficient due to the drastic changes of social conditions in the densely populated metropolises, as the constantly growing population of poor immigrant neighborhoods was capable of paying for medical services. At the same time, namely the residents of such ghettos were most vulnerable category of population from the standpoint of epidemiology. Taking preventive measures by the municipal authorities, which included mass vaccination and clearing New York streets from dirt and trash, became an effective way to alleviate the situation. The administrative reforms in the city significantly improved the situation, which laid the foundation for sweeping changes in the future.

Keywords: Hermann Biggs, vaccination, industrialization, public health, population growth, USA, urbanization, New York, tuberculosis, smallpox

Abstract: The primary task of this research is to elucidate the reasons for stereotyping “new” immigrants as dangerous criminals and anarchists in society of the United States. The subject of this research is criminality within the immigration environment, while the object is the immigrants from Southeast Europe and Asia who came to the United States in the second half of the XIX century and surpassed the immigrants from Western and Northern Europe. The author refers to the analysis of social and economic situation of “new” immigrants as the factors that impacted the rise of crime rate in the immigrant quarters. Special attention is given to organized criminal activity and radical political movements, as well as their influence upon the public image of “new” immigrants. The conclusion is made that the representatives of “new” immigration were involved in various unlawful actions, from minor administrative offenses and crimes against private property to murders, robberies and creation of organized criminal communities. An important place among the factors that affected criminalization of immigrants from Southeast Europe and Asia was held by social isolation of immigrant communities, problematic assimilation, and tough economic situation due to intense competition on the job market and high unemployment rate. At the same time, “new” immigrants were no different from the local dwellers in disposition to commit crime: criminal rate among immigrants did not exceed average in the country.

Keywords: social problems, anarchism, crime,  Chinese immigrants, European immigration, new immigration, USA, organized crime, stereotypes, image

Abstract: This article examines evolution of the mechanism of state regulation of Soviet foreign policy propaganda in print media in the period from 1917 to 1963. The goal consists in studying the process of key structural and normative legal changes within the mechanism of state regulation of Soviet foreign policy propaganda in print media, as well as in highlighting the characteristic features of main stages in evolution of the mechanism of state regulation. The subject of this research is the analysis of party and government documents that regulate the activity of propaganda agencies and foreign policy agenda in print media, based on which an attempt is made to determine the primary trends in regulation of foreign policy propaganda in press. The object of this research is the structural changes in public administration with regards to foreign policy propaganda. Special attention is given to the administrative aspect and normative legal base, which are the framework for functionality of the apparatus of Soviet propaganda. The author determines the key stages in formation of foreign policy propaganda in print media, and concludes that the XX Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union marks the establishment of holistic structure of foreign policy propaganda, as well as the emergence of new party and government branches of cultural-ideological impact on the Western countries. The scientific novelty lies in an attempt of comprehensive examination of the process of amending the basic normative legal documents that regulate the activity of public administration authorities in the area of foreign policy propaganda in print media over the period from 1917 to 1963. Based on these structural and normative legal changes, the author characterizes the stages of evolution of the mechanism of state regulation of this sphere.

Keywords: Agitprop, print media, Soviet press, legal regulation of mass media, history of propaganda, foreign policy propaganda, Khrushchev, TASS, Sovinformburo, Press Agency News

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the problem of formation of national style in the architecture of French Renaissance. The indicated problem is the topic of intense discussion within the historiography of Renaissance. Leaning the concept of J. Burckhardt, who describes Renaissance as a specifically Italian phenomenon, a number of scholars identity French Renaissance with “Italianism”. On the other hand, there is a contradictory historiographical trend that acclaims national medieval tradition that views the revival of classical antiquity as a foreign and shallow phenomenon. An attempt is made to examine the problem from the perspective Renaissance itself, relying on the reasoning and assessments expressed by the three theoreticians of architecture: Sebastian Serlio, Philibert de l'Orme, and Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau. The conclusion is made that the theoreticians of French Renaissance were not prone to contrapose the shapes borrowed from antiquity to national tradition. They perceived antiquity as the common past of the entire contemporary to them culture. They did not see any preponderance of Italian Renaissance over the national culture. The contradiction between antiquity and Gothicism was interpreted as a contradiction between the ancient and the new, rather than foreign and native. In creation of the style of Renaissance architecture they resorted to synthesizing heritage of the antiquity with national medieval tradition.

Keywords: Philibert De l'Orme, series of prints, collections of drawings, architectural treatises, antiquity, Gothic, Renaissance, architecture, Sebastiano Serlio, Jacques Androuet du Cerceau the Elder

Abstract: This article conducts historiographical and quantitative analysis of the prime economic media in the Russian Empire of the late XIX – early XX centuries – “Journal of Finance, Industry and Trade”. The journal was issued from 1885 to 1917 being the official publication of the Ministry of Finance. The materials published in the journal contain reference and analytical information. High quality of the analytical articles was ensured by competent authors – prominent national economists of that time. The goal consists in studying the dynamics of reflection of complex economic processes that unfolded in the prewar 1913 in the journal. Characteristic is given to the composition of the team of authors in 1913. Quantitative analysis of the content of all 52 issues is conducted for the first time in accordance with the dynamics of quarterly distribution of the topics of analytical publications. The author suggests possible interpretations of changes in thematic specialty of the journal throughout the year, and formulates a hypothesis on correlation between these changes and the dynamics of industrial stock index developed by L. Borodkin and G. Perelman by analogy with the famous Dow Jones Industrial Average. Decline in journal’s interest to the industrial problems is noticed until the fourth quarter of 1913; then the favorable conjuncture on the oil market explains the frequency of occurrence of the category of “industry” due to the articles dedicated to oil industry.

Keywords: source analysis, authors of articles, Vestnik of Finance, mass media, pre-war year, economic processes, quantitative methods, rubricator, thematic categories, dynamics

Abstract: The subject of this article is life and research activity of the Soviet geologist, paleontologist, Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy, explorer of the European North-East of Russia, discoverer of the Pechora coal basin – Alexander Chernov (1877-1963). The object of this research is the Russian historiography on his scientific biography. The goal a consists in the analysis of biographical essays, writings, newspaper notes about A. A. Chernov, available information on his scientific biography, as well as insufficiently studied topics. It is determined that the historiography of works dedicated to A. A. Chernov is extensive, and describes life path of the scholar, his academicc, pedagogical, and social activities. The author indicates Chernov’s role in training geology scholars in the process of institutionalization of science in the North, namely the Institute of Geology of Komi Scientific Center of Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, organization of exploration works in the European North-East of Russia. His remarkable contribution to geological exploration of the territories of Russian North along with the discovery of Pechora coal basin is described. It is revealed that the history of establishment and development of Chernov’s scientific school, formed on the premises of Guerrier Courses in Moscow and in the Komi Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union remains insufficiently studied.

Keywords: Komi Scientific Center, scientific school, geology, science history, historiography, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Chernov, the North of European Russia, biography, scientist-geologist, the Pechora coal basin

Abstract: The goal of this article consists in determination of the key aspects of foreign policy of the First Czechoslovak Republic, described in the Soviet historical science since the end of the World War II until dissolution of the Soviet Union. The subject of this research is the writings of Soviet historians dedicated to examination of foreign policy of interwar Czechoslovakia. The object of this research is the Soviet historiography of the late 1940s – late 1980s. The interest towards foreign policy problematic is substantiated by its crucial importance for the existence of the First Republic, which fully depended on the stability of the Versailles System of international relations that gave rise to it and was eliminated along with it. Analysis the works of Soviet historians allows concluding that the main vectors in examination of foreign policy of the First Czechoslovak Republic and its assessment were formed by the early 1960s, and with no significant changes lasted until dissolution of the Soviet Union. It is worth noting that the national historiography at that time significantly advances in studying various aspects of foreign policy of the First Czechoslovak Republic, namely Czechoslovakia–Soviet Union relations and events preceding the Munich Agreement and liquidation of the First Republic. However, the prevalent in Soviet science class approach, with all its significance, did not allow giving an unbiased assessment to the events of 1938, as well as to foreign policy of the interwar Czechoslovakia overall.

Keywords: interbellum, Sudeten Germans, soviet-czechoslovak relations, international relations, foreign policy, The First Czechoslovak republic, historiography, Treaty of Versailles, Munich Agreement, class approach

Abstract: This article explores the representations of French diplomats and military chiefs on the methods of ensuring security of Mediterranean communications against the background of unfolding Austrian crisis in the spring of 1938. Although national and foreign researchers discusses the existence of a threat to French communications in the Mediterranean, Paris’ position on this problem alongside the change of its approach, have not previously become the subject of separate research. The author attempts to elucidate why Paris resorted to the questions of military cooperation with London in the Mediterranean Region precisely in the spring of 1938. The author relied on the achievements of the realist school of the theory of international relations in defining the concept of security. The conclusion is formulated that consolidation of Italy and Germany in the strategically important areas of the region – Spanish Morocco and Balearic Islands, which took place during the Spanish War, posed a serious threat to French communications in the Mediterranean. French military officers believed that particular danger to Paris’ positions in the region came from Italy. In the course of escalation of the Austrian crisis, the stance of Paris on the defense of communications varied. If in February 1938, the French military chiefs were assumed that security of communications could be ensured by signing an agreement,  after the Anschluss they considered conducting military operations in the Mediterranean Region in the instance of the beginning of war. Paris was concerned about consolidation of “axis” powers in the region, and a year ahead of London raised the question on conducting combat operations in the Mediterranean. However, without the support of Great Britain, France was incapable of achieving full protection of its Mediterranean interests.

Keywords: Spanish protectorate in Morocco, Balearic islands, Spanish civil war, Anschluss, Mediterranean communications, security, Mediterranean region, France, anglo-italian agreement, military cooperation

Abstract: The subject of this research is activity of the section of history and everyday life of the State Russian Museum established in 1918. The department devised a new theme – history of everyday life and its visualization in museum expositions, which was natural development of the Russian historical science. Intended to preserve and actualize the history of everyday life of different social classes, it shared fate of multiple national museums of everyday life: exhibitions that tool place in the 1920s were cancelled; in the late 1930s, the collections were transferred to museums of different categories, such as the State Museum of Revolution, the State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR. However, the section of history and everyday life did not cease to exist, and in 1941 merged into the State Hermitage Museum as an independent structural department of the history of Russian culture. Leaning on the new archival sources, an attempt was made to elucidate the work of the department of history and everyday life along with its branches in conditions of difficult political situation in the country during the 1920s – 1930s. Initially, the primary task of the department consisted procurement of the funds with the items from nationalized manor houses; later in consisted in exposition of the collection; and then due to the absence of the unified state institution for regulation of questions of preservation of historical and cultural heritage, the activity was focused on preventing scattering of the collections. After the First Museum Congress in 1930, the museums were recognized as the means of political-educational propaganda, which let to countrywide stagnation of expositional and exhibition activity of the museums. The museums of history and everyday life, being the mixed type museums, were incapable of resisting new realities, and thus re-specialized into museums of history and art or liquidated completely.

Keywords: history of museums, The State Hermitage Museum, The State Russian Museum, everyday life history, alltagsgeschichte, everyday life museum, microhistory, museum studies, exhibition, heritage

Abstract: The subject of this research is the largest printed compilation of the lives of the saints venerated by the Russian Orthodox Church – “Lives of the Saints” by St. Dimitry of Rostov (1689-1705). Despite a widespread opinion that the only printed book on the Russian history until the middle of the XVIII century was the “Synopsis” by Innokenty Gizel, the author refers to “Lives of the Saints” as a landmark of historical writing that reflects crucial events in the Russian history from ancient times until early XVIII century. Traditionally viewed as a literary and hagiographical landmark, “Lives of the Saints” by St. Dimitri Rostov were out of the scope for the researchers of Russian historiography. This article is the first to conduct comprehensive analysis of historical records contained in the lives of Russian saints as part of the compilation “Live of the Saints”. Emphasis is places on the representation of events of the past. The research demonstrates that “Lives of the Saints” included descriptions of the milestones in Church and political history. Featuring certain aspect of scientific writings (accuracy of dates, critical analysis of sources, reference apparatus), they conveyed a special, Christian perception of Russian history as a chain of miracles of the saints and the Virgin Mary. The conclusion is made on the considerable importance of “Lives of the Saints” in proliferation of information on the Russian past among broad population, and formation of historical memory of the Russian society of the XVIII – XIX centuries.

Keywords: Time of Troubles, Alexander Nevsky, Sergius of Radonezh, Siege of Kazan, The Battle of Kulikovo, prince Vladimir, tatars, historical memory, hagiography, Russian history

Abstract: Slavery has always been condemned across the world; however in the end of the XX century, such canonical concept was rectified based on the extensive examination by American scholars of compilation of narratives of the former slaves collected in 1930s in the United States. At that time, 2,300 former slaves from 17 states were interviewed about their life in the era of slavery. Later, these interviews were placed in open access on the website of the Library of US Congress, reconstructing a contradictory picture of everyday life of African-Americans in the conditions of plantation economy: some reminiscences convey almost a nostalgic feeling of the past, while others criticizes it severely. The author in his attempt explain the historical accuracy of the results of mass interviewing of African-Americans, tries to make sense why 70 years later, the eyewitnesses of the same event have polar viewpoints. Forming the new comparative-historical approaches towards examination of collective consciousness under the influence of anthropologization of historical knowledge, the interview materials allow reconstructing the period, demonstrating the value system of the entire population group, unlike biography that structures the chain of events in chronological order. Analysis of the archive “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938” has not been previously conducted within the Russian historiography, just briefly mentioned as one of the documentary aspects of the institution of slavery. The contained material is important for scientific comprehension of the bygone era of slavery, reflected in the collective memory of long-suffering African-American sub-ethnos. The problem of slavery in the United States, which synthesizes heritage of the past with practices of everyday life in various manifestations, seems optimal from the perspective of historiographical interest.

Keywords: interviews of former slaves, collective memory, oral history, Federal writers’ project, President Roosevelt, the great depression, slavery, the USA, inaccuracy in the questionnaire, low representativeness of inteviewing

Abstract: This article explores the peculiarities of spatial planning and construction phases of apse in the Franciscan Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore in Naples. Gothic deambulatory with a crown of radial chapels in the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore is a unique typology of apse structure for the architecture of Franciscans in Italy. The architectural monument is ranked with a number of other Franciscan churches in Naples, built under the patronage of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Naples from Anjou Dynasty. Analysis is conducted on engineering aspects and system of orders of the Neapolitan Church. The analysis of formal-stylistic features and taking and consideration of historical peculiarities of the architectural monuments, the author suggests possible influence of the architectural language of French Gothicism upon the plan of the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The article revises historiography of the question of origin of oriental hue in the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The author substantially broadens the vector of research problems and interpretations associated with examination of French influence upon the plan of the apse of the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The novelty of consists in the analysis of apse of the Church of San Lorenzo Maggiore the context of logics of the development of deambulatory in French Gothicism, rather than borrowing of this shape from medieval Italian architecture.

Keywords: Italian Gothic Architecture, Franciscan Architecture, Gothic architecture, Apse, Ambulatory, Naples, San Lorenzo Maggiore, Franciscans, Kingdom of Naples, Angevin Dynasty

Abstract: The subject of this article is the financial activity of Moscow City Duma during the 1860s. The goal is to reveal administrative decisions of the Duma and its leader A. A. Shcherbatov aimed at improvement of financial policy, repletion and balance the municipal budget. Research methodology is comprised of the following methods: historical and typological that helped to reconstruct the conditions that promoted effective work of the Duma; historical and comparative that allowed assessing the result o reforms  conducted by the Duma based on the situation of municipal economy prior and after their implementation; quantitative for analyzing statistical data of work of the Duma, etc. The conditions are indicated  that enabled successful and effective work of the Moscow City Duma during the 1863-1869. The author systematizes the financial management measures; analyzes the efficiency of financial projects of the Duma; determines the role of city’s mayor A. A. Shcherbatov in elaboration of drafts of financial reform and their implementation.

Keywords: the Moscow mayor, Alexander Alekseevich Shcherbatov, the financial activity, the Moscow city Duma, the history of cities, the history of municipal administration, the history of Russia, the local government, the financial reform, the government interaction

Abstract: This article presents an overview of economic situation and trade relations in Germany during the 1815 – 1820s, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The customs question was especially urgent due to the disparity of territories, and was being resolved in several German states simultaneously. The author examines the Prussian plan of customs union that was implemented in future, as well as the alternative regional projects. For detailed assessment of the indicated projects, analysis is conducted on the flow of import and export of various products on the German territories. This article is founded on the German sources, including maps of German territories and summary statistical tables, which did not previously received wide coverage within the Russian historiography. The topic of establishment of the German Customs Union was in the sidelines for a long time; therefore, this research is relevant for broad audience within the framework of studying the economic history and the history of Germany. The author determines that the period of formation of the German Customs Union was not subjected to comprehensive analysis; the alternative plans of customs unions were not sufficiently covered by the national and foreign historians, despite the extensive source base. The main conclusion consists in description of the actual alternatives to the Prussian plan of customs union, which have not been implemented due to political discrepancies between the members of the South and Middle German unions. Translation of the Customs Union Agreement into the Russian language has not been previously conducted; its provisions would be the subject of the author’s further research.

Keywords: Tax fees, Customs reforms, Prussian history, German history, customs history, foreign trade, economic history, German Zollverein, German Confederation, German states XIX