Reform of the network of preschool institutions in the Soviet Union in the second half of the 1950s to the mid-1980s (on the materials of the Lower Volga region)

Introduction. The paper is devoted to analyzing the main lines of modernization of kindergartens and nurseries in the Lower Volga region in the second half of the 1950s to the mid-1980s. Materials. The article is based on the factual material extracted from the funds of the central and local archives, reporting and paperwork, legislative documents, and statistical collections. Methods. The studyis based on a set of methodological techniques, including special methods of historical studies such as the historical-comparative, statistical and quantitative methods. Analysis. Analyzing a wide array of statistical data allows to make a number of important observations and to conclude that by the mid-1980s the above-mentioned institutions in the region under study had higher quantitative development indicators in comparison with the neighboring oblasts and republics in the Volga economic district, as well as in comparison with the all-Russian and even all-Union levels. Results. In conclusion, the author infers that by spring 1985, services of nurseries and kindergartens really became more accessible to the residents of the region under study. However, based on the qualitative criteria, we see that the level of their services reached by 1985 could not yet meet the growing needs of the population, especially in the countryside.