Tikhonova A.V. Surveillance of foreign doctors in  the Russian empire during the first  half of the 19th century

Abstract: The surveillance of foreigners in the Russian empire is a little-researched historiographical subject, with, among professional groups, only control over foreign teachers and tutors being studied. The aim of the article is to examine the formation history of the regulatory-legal base for foreign doctors’ sojourn in Russia in the first half of the 19th century, and to cite concrete examples of surveillance implementation over these professionals on the basis of documents from the Third section of His imperial majesty’s Own chancellery (State archive of the Russian Federation), the Smolensk governorate office, the chancellery of the Smolensk civil governor and the governorate medical board (State archive of the Smolensk oblast). The author draws particular attention to the fact that the main requirement for receiving medical practice permission in Russia was the validation of a doctor’s qualifications through the passage of exams in Russian specialised facilities. Because of the Russian authorities’ interest in attracting foreign specialists, these specialists were encouraged to learn Russian language and to receive Russian citizenship. To justify the logic of the authorities’ actions towards doctor-foreigners, the author describes the Russian government’s decisions taken during the 1850s. State surveillance was directed at ensuring the health of the Russian citizens and administering them with qualified medical aid from foreign specialists.

Keywords: