Dynamics of feldsher personnel in Vologda Province in the late 19th – the early 20th century

The article analyses the dynamics of feldsher personnel in the late 19th – the early 20th centuries. For this purpose, the materials of the Russian State Historical Archive, fund 1297 – Medical Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, data from the Statistical Yearbook of the Russian Empire, as well as statistical materials on the state of public health and organisation of medical care for 1913 – 1923 are used. To disclose the topic, the article examined the Medical Regulations, which, in turn, had been included in the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, and other materials of medical and sanitary legislation. The article reviews the legislation on the activities of feldshers, their rights and duties, the composition of feldsher personnel. The author concludes that medical reports of the 19th century were not systematic. In the late 19th – the early 20th centuries, a feldsher was an auxiliary medical personnel member performing functions under supervision of a physician. Legislatively formalised necessity for a feldsher to stay in a governorate was present only in the form of a district feldsher. The rights and duties of feldshers were formalised more clearly in 1910. During the period under study, the number of feldsher personnel in Vologda Province increased significantly.