The Core of Enlightened Community: a Comparative View on the Emergence of Higher Education Institutions in Samara and the Ural within the Framwork of Local History Methods

The article proposes a typology of transformational processes within the educational community in separately considered loci according to the synthetic approach of C. Phythian-Adams. The author, in contrast to established approaches in historiography, undertakes an analysis of the personalities and local communities involved in the formation of higher education institutions – the Pedagogical Institute in Samara and the Ural Higher Pedagogical School in Yekaterinburg. The role of the micro-community is assessed in the context of modern approaches to local history and the history of everyday life. The author presents arguments in favor of continuity between educational institutions at the phase of change of power and approval of new educational programs required to ensure a high level of education among the country’s population.