Book Donations – a Source of Acquisition to the Tomsk City Public Library Collections in the Pre-revolutionary Period

The relevance of the topic is determined by the socio- cultural significance of charitable activities. Lack of comprehensive and concrete historical research on the donation of books to the Tomsk City Public Library (TCPL), with the exception of fragmentary references to the names of donors, has conditioned the scientific novelty of the article . The purpose of the work is to analyze book donations as one of the sources of acquisition to the collections of this library. TCPL annual reports for the pre-revolutionary period compile the source base of the study. For the first time, the share of donated titles and volumes has been calculated – almost the half of books enriching the library collections. Institutions, organizations and individuals engaged in making large donations have been identified. Among them – A. A. Dikhoff, S. K. Kuznetsov, M. Ya. Turner, Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum, Society for the Care of Primary Education in Tomsk, etc. Among the donating their works authors – professors of the Imperial Tomsk University: D. N. Belikov, A. M. Zaitsev, N. F. Kashchenko and others. Numerous facts of donations to the library are given. It is noted that donations were made by representatives of different social groups. The thematic repertoire and types of donated publications have been analyzed, with their significant part consisting of Siberia-studying literature and clerical documentation. For to form a respectful attitude to the book and library, to understand their important role in the life of a person and society, to encourage charity, numerous newly identified and recorded new facts of book donations could be involved. The results obtained can be useful for the reconstruction of socio-cultural life in the region in the pre-revolutionary period.