The Arzamas School of Craft Apprentices was a vocational educational institution in Arzamas that operated from March 11, 1902, to July 1, 1917. It was founded on the basis of the law of December 20, 1893, establishing a special type of vocational school — schools of craft apprentices. It began actual operation on July 1, 1903. The school buildings were constructed in 1903–1906 in the Eclectic style to a design by the architect Dombrovsky and are located on Karl Marx Street in the center of Arzamas; the complex has been recognized as a monument of urban planning and architecture.[2] It was among the institutions that shaped the system of vocational education in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate.[1]

Organization and Curriculum

The school was under the authority of a teacher-inspector, who reported to the Director of Public Schools of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate. The first teacher-inspector of the school, from its opening in 1903 until 1917, was Aleksey Mikhaylovich Kolesnikov (born c. 1872); from 1903 the school also employed Aleksey Georgievich Chernorukov (born c. 1874) as a teacher-technician, and in 1917 he took over the post of teacher-inspector.[3] Boys aged 11 to 14 who had completed primary education were admitted. The institution's main task was to train craftsmen capable of independently running small workshops and craft enterprises.[1]

As of 1913, the school had three classes (departments): metalworking, carpentry, and foundry. The course of study consisted of a three-year compulsory course and one additional (fourth) year of practical training. Religious instruction at the school was given from 1905 by the priest Mikhail Petrovich Nikolsky (born c. 1863).[3] The school also had a free student canteen, maintained with charitable funds and subsidies from the school's special funds.[1]

Transformations After 1917

On July 1, 1917, the school was transformed into the Arzamas Craft School for Agricultural Machine Building and Repair, intended to train skilled workers in the manufacture and repair of agricultural machinery. In 1919, the workshops of the former school housed the motor-vehicle section of the headquarters of the Eastern Front, which had arrived in the city.[2] Over the period 1920–1936 the school underwent a series of reorganizations, after which a technical school of agricultural mechanization and electrification was established on its basis. This institution was later named the V. A. Novikov Arzamas Agricultural College and has its own archival fonds (R-343).[1]

Archival Fonds

The school's documents are held in the State Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region (in Arzamas) as Fond No. 157, Inventory No. 1, covering the period from 1903 to 1936. The fond was accepted by the Arzamas State Archive on February 16, 1937. A small portion of the documents — 10 storage units from 1899–1915 — is held in the Central Archive of the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The fond contains information on the school's personnel, student admissions, the activities of the board of trustees, the opening of the foundry workshop, the construction and repair of buildings, annual reports, accounting documents, and materials on the conduct of graduation and promotion examinations.[1]

Sources

  1. autotravel-nn.ru — The school buildings were constructed in 1903–1906 in the eclectic style according to a design by the architect Dombrovsky and are located on Karl Marx Street in the center of Arzamas; the compl
  2. forum.vgd.ru — The school's first teacher-inspector, from its opening in 1903 until 1917, was Aleksey Mikhaylovich Kolesnikov (born around 1872). From 1903 the school
  1. web.archive.org — Fund No. 157 "Arzamas School of Craft Apprentices (March 11, 1902 – July 1, 1917)". Inventory No. 1. For 1903–1936 — OPEN TEXT (archive)