State educational institutions in the cities of the Middle Volga region at the end of the XVIII - first quarter of the XIX centuries

The article is devoted to the process of the formation of secular and religious schools in the cities of the Middle Volga region (Simbirsk, Saratov, and Penza provinces) from the reforms of Catherine II in the last third of the 18th century until the end of the 20s of the XIX century. The author distinguishes two main stages of reforming the state secular and religious school; on the base of archival and published sources and materials of historical research, the dates of the founding of educational institutions have been clarified. The study allows to characterize the place of the school in the socio-cultural space of the late feudal provincial city.