Perspectivia

Booker_Nathanael

Surname

Букер; Booker

Name

Нафанаэль, Нафанаил; Nathanael (?)

В документах не указывается имя учителя по фамилии Букер, работающего в Академической гимназии в 1750 г. Однако, с учетом того, что четыре брата из семьи Букер обучались в Академической гимназии в 1730-х и 1740-х гг., можно предположить, что позже один из них стал учителем в этом же учреждении. День рождения и дата поступления в Академическую гимназию говорят о том, что им, скорее всего, был Нафанаэль Букер. Биографические данные, указанные в этой статье, основываются на этом предположении.

The documents do not specify the first name of the teacher Booker, working in the Academy School in 1750. However, given the fact that there were four brothers in the Booker family, all studying at the Academy School in the 1730s and 1740s, it is very probable that later on, one of them became teacher there. Taking into account the date of birth and enrolment at the Academy School, this could have been Nathanael Booker. The biographical data in this article are based on the presupposition that the documented teacher Booker was Nathanael Booker.

Languages taught

German

Confession

Lutheran

Place of birth, country

Russia

Place of birth, town (province)

St. Petersburg

Date of birth

1727-11-20

(Nathanael Booker)

Family relations

Father of Nathanael Booker: John Booker

John Booker, a forwarding agent at the Russian Company, married to Adelgunde Minau (1725-01-19, St. Petersburg), died from the pox in St Petersburg in 1738.

Education

Nathanael Booker was enrolled at the Academy School on March 15th 1736. The documented teacher Booker studied at the Academy university.

Career in Russia

Booker was engaged at the Academy School as a German teacher around 1750. Apparently, he spoke Russian and had good skills in translating from Russian into German and vice versa.

Institutions in which the teacher has taught in Russia

Academy School (at the Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg)

Pupils

In the first half of the 18th century, the Academy School and the Noble Infantry Cadet Corps were the most important schools in Russia. The Academy School’s pupil registers (see: Материалы для истории Академии наук) list about 820 pupils attending the Academy School during this period. At least two thirds of these pupils learned German. The names of a large number of them, aged between 6 and 20 years-old, are known and listed in the school registers, including information about their social backgrounds and learning progress.

Social status of teacher’s pupils

nobility; civil servants; merchants; soldiers; peasants

There were two different categories of students, attending the Academy School: students in receipt of a government scholarship and independent (self-funding) pupils, among them nobles and non-nobles. The family background of the pupils was largely diversified from a wide spectrum of professions: from the higher nobility, army officers and civil servants, such as staff members of the Academy’s chancellery or the Collegia, to merchants, craftsmen, soldiers, farmers and even ordinary servants.

Place of work in Russia, city (province)

St Petersburg

Dates of existence of the school / pedagogical activity

around 1750

Subjects and aspects of subjects taught by the teacher

German

Sources

  • Сухомлинов М.И., Материалы для истории Академии наук, Saint-Petersburg, (1885), vol. 2, p. 857; Штранге М.М., Демократическая интеллигенция России в 18 веке, Moscow, 1965, р. 250; Erik-Amburger-Datenbank. Ausländer im vorrevolutionären Russland [http://dokumente.ios-regensburg.de/amburger/index.php?id=6159]; [http://dokumente.ios-regensburg.de/amburger/index.php?id=6164]; Koch Kristine, Deutsch als Fremdsprache im Russland des 18. Jahrhunderts. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Fremdsprachenlernens in Europa und zu den deutsch-russischen Beziehungen, Berlin, New York, 2002, S. 186; Tolstoj D.A., Das Akademische Gymnasium und die Akademische Universität im XVIII. Jahrhundert, nach handschriftlichen Dokumenten des Archives der Akademie der Wissenschaften, [reprint of: St Petersburg, 1885], Osnabrück, 1970, S. 34f.

Author of the article

Kristine Dahmen