Memorable Dates of Russia: State Darwin Museum presented the exhibition marking the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Natural Sciences Department of Higher Courses for Women

On August 25, 2020, the State Darwin Museum (Moscow) launched the exhibition marking the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Natural Sciences Department of Higher Courses for Women.

The exhibition is devoted to the creation of the first higher women's educational institution in Russia - the Moscow Higher Courses for Women (now the Moscow Pedagogical State University). Archival photographs and documents showcase a new and unusual for Russian society type of the female student at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The exhibition begins with a wedding photograph of the Kots - the founders of the State Darwin Museum. The exhibition highlights the role of the Moscow Higher Courses for Women in the fate of this family and the museum.

The "women's question" had been discussed by the Russian progressive public along with urging political problems from the middle of the XIX century. Women had no right to receive higher education. To make it, they had to go abroad. In the 1870s, women's universities were approved in the country. The first higher courses for women were opened in Moscow, then they were created in Kazan, Kiev, Saint-Petersburg and other cities of Russia.

In 1872, V. I. Guerrier, a professor of history in Moscow University, established the Moscow Higher Courses for Women. The institution aimed "not only to train teachers, but also improve general and scientific education of women on the whole". In the beginning, the Courses had historical and philological orientation. In 1900, the Moscow Higher Courses for Women had Historical and Philological and Physico-Mathematical faculties with Physico-Mathematical and Natural Sciences Departments.

Photographs and documents of the early XX century illustrate the learning process of students of the Natural Sciences Department. In the first years, teaching was based on lectures. Then there were created classrooms and laboratories, supplied with the necessary equipment, medicines, and collections. The prominent Russian scientists - zoologists, chemists, botanists, geologists, whose names are forever associated with the history of the Moscow Higher Courses for Women - conducted comprehensive workshops for students, teaching them the elements of independent research work.

In 1907, Alexander Kots, a graduate of Moscow University, brought his private collection of stuffed animals to the zoological laboratory of the Natural Sciences Department. The young teacher used it as a demonstration material during academic activity. It was the beginning of the State Darwin Museum - the largest natural science museum in Russia. The photographs presented at the exhibition showcase the first museum expositions.

Being a teacher of the Moscow Higher Courses for Women, Alexander Kots met his future wife - Nadezhda Ladygina, a student of the Natural Sciences Department. Later she became a famous zoopsychologist, author of many scientific works, doctor of biological sciences and a tower of strength to her husband in creating a museum.