Bestuzhev Courses

The Bestuzhev Courses (Russian: Бестужевские курсы) in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia.^[1]

The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, the first director. However, the actual lead organizing force was provided by women: Nadezhda Stasova, Anna Filosofova, and several others.^[2]^[3]

Other professors included Baudouin de Courtenay, Alexander Borodin, Faddei Zielinski, Dmitry Mendeleyev, Ivan Sechenov, and Sergey Platonov. An assistant professor there was Vera Bogdanovskaya, the first female chemist to die as a result of her own research.^[4] Nadezhda Krupskaya and Maria Piłsudska were among the graduates. The courses occupied a purpose-built edifice on Vasilievsky Island.^{[citation needed]}

After the Russian Revolution, they were reorganized as the Third University of Petrograd, which was merged into the Petrograd University in September 1919.^[5]

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Ekaterina Zlatoustova (1881–1952), Bulgarian feminist, civil servant, and teacher
Anna Chertkova (1859–1927), children's writer, social activist and Peredvizhniki's model

[1]
Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild. Equality and Revolution: Women's Rights in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-8229-6066-9. Page 56.
[2]
de Haan, Francisca; Daskalova, Krassimira; Loutfi, Anna, eds. (2006). A Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms: Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries. Central European University Press. pp. 526–9. ISBN 9786155053726.
[3]
Rappaport, Helen (2001). Encyclopedia of women social reformers. Vol. 2. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 671–2. ISBN 978-1-57607-101-4.
[4]
Elder, Eleanor S; et al. (April 1979). "The Deadly Outcome of Chance-Vera Estaf'evna Bogdanovskaia". Journal of Chemical Education. 56 (4): 251–2. Bibcode:1979JChEd..56..251E. doi:10.1021/ed056p251.
[5]
The encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg Archived 14 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine