Figure 1.-- Here we have a school in Tartu/Jurjev duing 1913. This is a city in southeast Estonia southeast of Tallinn, at the time a part of the Russian Empire. It looks to us like it was the beginning class in a secondary school. The children look to be about 10-11 years old. What we do not know is the ethnicity of the children which would have included Estonians, Germans, and Russians. Cities in the Naltics tended to have relatively small numbers of the the larger national ethnic group. (There were few Jews in Estonia compared to the other Baltic republics.) We think the language of instruction would have been Russian ecause of Alexnder's Russification process, but we are not sure about that. The blackboard writing does not seem to be Cyrilic, but we only have two letters to go on. Notice the boy with a globe. The children were probably proud to have a modern instructional item. Many of the girls wear pinafores or lace collars, but we only see one small hairbow. The boys wear various garments. We think we see miitary-styled jackets, but there also may be tynics or even smocks. The boys all have short hair, but not as severely cropped as we see in many Russian schools at the time.

Here we have a school in Tartu/Jurjev duing 1913. This is a city in southeast Estonia southeast of Tallinn, at the time a part of the Russian Empire. Tartu has a fasinating history. The location has anient origins as a fortified place. The first written reference comes from Kievian Rus (1030). Germans played an important role in the city's history and Tartu was a part of the Hanseatic League. Russia seized Tartu (1704) as part of the epic Great Northern War. Estonia became independent at the end of World War I. Tartu is Estonia's second largest city and often seen as the country's intelectul cpital, in part because of the prestigious University of Tartu. Tartu was at the center of the Romantic nationalist movement emeging in the mid-19th century. Tartu hosted Estonia's first song festival (1869). Vanemuine, the first national theater was fonded in Tartu (1870). Tartu was also the location where the Society of Estonian Writers was founded (1872). At the same time, Estonia like Poland and the restof the Baltics was affected by Tsar Alexander III's Russifcation policies. The name of the city was officially changed to the ancient Russian name Yuryev (1893). The Russification of th University began (1895). Th Russian lanage was made compulsory in classroom teaching. With Estonian independence, the Russian imperial university was relocated to Voronezh (1918). The Estonian University of Tartu opened a year later (1919). We are not sure just what kind of school is represented here. What we see is a class with something like 60 children, both boys and girls. Other than village schools, most Russian Empire schools were single gender schools. There seem to be two teachers. Perhaps this was two classes. The man with a military cap is probably the pincipal. It looks to us like it was the entry-level class in a secondary school. The children look to be about 10-11 years old. What we do not know is the ethnicity of the children which would have included Estonians, Germans, and Russians. Cities in the Naltics tended to have relatively small numbers of the the larger national ethnic group. (There were few Jews in Estonia compared to the other Baltic republics.) We think the language of instruction would have been Russian ecause of Alexnder's Russification process, but we are not sure about that. The blackboard writing does not seem to be Cyrilic, but we only have two letters to go on. Notice the boy with a globe. The children were probably proud to have a modern instructional item. Many of the girls wear pinafores or lace collars, but we only see one small hairbow. The boys wear various garments. We think we see miitary-styled jackets, but there also may be tynics or even smocks. The boys all have short hair, but not as severely cropped as we see in many Russian schools at the time.

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Created: 5:43 PM 5/12/2016
Last updated: 5:43 PM 5/12/2016