This article focuses on the unique position of the Baltic Provinces of Estland, Livland, and Kurland in terms of literacy rates in the Russian Empire in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The modern censuses that began to appear by the 1860s revealed reading rates that were triple the all-Russian average in 1897, especially among the mainly Protestant nationalities (the Germans, Estonians, and Latvians). In contrast to the all-Russian situation where the cities and males were much more advanced in literacy skills, the Baltic Provinces also showed a striking equality among urban and rural areas as well as the two genders. The roots of the Baltic regioon evolving into this outlier position must be sought in certain key historical factors, including the Reformation and the onset of Lutheranism, the aggressive promotion of literacy by the Swedish state, the role of German pietism and the Moravian Brethren, and the early emphasis placed on at least a minimal education for all elements of the population.
1. A good illustration of this cultural interaction is provided by Kobolt, E. Die deutsche Sprache in Estland am Beispiel der Stadt Pernau. Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, Lüneburg, 1990, which documents the strikingly large number of words on Russian and Estonian origin in the Baltic German idiom.
2. The 1897 census in the Russian Empire did not query the population on its ability to write.
3. Богданов И. М. Грамотность и образование в дореволюционной России и в СССР. Статистика, Москва, 1964, 58–62. The contrast between the Baltic Provinces and neighboring Pskov province, where only 20 percent of the population ten years of age and older could read, is particularly noteworthy.
4. Vincent, D. The Rise of Mass Literacy. Reading and Writing Modern Europe. Polity, Cambridge, 2000, 8; Houston, R. Literacy and society in the west, 1500–1800. – Social History, 1963, 8, 275.
5. Houston, R. A. Literacy in Early Modern Europe. Culture and Education 1500–1800. Longman, London, 1988, 155–156; Schofield, R. S. The measurement of literacy in pre-industrial England. – In: Literacy in Traditional Societies. Ed. J. Goody. Cambridge University Press, 1968, 314–315.
6. Johansson, E. Literacy campaigns in Sweden. – In: National Literacy Campaigns: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Eds R. F. Arnove et al. Plenum Press, New York, 1987, 68; Naber, J. Swedish Government authorities and school education in Estonia. – In: Die schwedischen Ostseeprovinzen Estland und Livland im 16.–18. Jahrhundert. Eds A. Loit et al. Almqvist & Wiksell, Uppsala, 1993, 356.
7. Johansson, E. Literacy campaigns in Sweden, 73; Naber, J. Swedish Government authorities and school education in Estonia, 356–357. See also Noodla, K. Eesti raamatu lugeja XVIII sajandi lõpul ja XIX sajandi algul. (Paar sammukest eesti kirjanduse uurimise teed, 11.) Tallinn, 1986, 10, who notes that instruction at home continued to play a major role for the Estonian peasantry until the mid-nineteenth century, i.e. until the time when an extensive network of schools had been established.
8. Palli, H. Miks eestlased jäid püsima? – Keel ja Kirjandus, 1995, 38, 479–482. For further detail on the earlier demographic history of Estonia, see Palli’s two fundamental works: Eesti rahvastiku ajalugu aastani 1712. Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia, Tallinn, 1996; Eesti rahvastiku ajalugu 1712–1799. Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia, Tallinn, 1997.
9. Webermann, O. A. Pietismus und Brüdergemeinde. – In: Baltische Kirchengeschichte. Ed. R. Wittram. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1956, 151–152, 165; Philipp, G. Die Wirksamkeit der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde unter den Esten und Letten zur Zeit der Bauernbefreiung. Böhlau, Cologne, 1974; Kahk, J. Aufklärung und nationale Identität. – In: Elias, O.-H. Aufklärung in den baltischen Provinzen Russlands. Eds O.-H. Elias et al. Böhlau, Cologne, 1996, 43–56.
10. On the evolution of the Estonian calendar almanacs, which date from 1720, see Annus, E. Eesti kalendrikirjandus 1720–1900. Eesti Akadeemiline Raamatukogu, Tallinn, 2000.
11. Plakans, A. The Latvians: A Short History. Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, California, 1995, 68; Naber, J. Volksbildung und Schulen der Esten in Est- und Livland im Zeitalter der Aufklärung. – In: Elias, O.-H. Aufklärung in den baltischen Provinzen Russlands, 89–93. Naber argues that since they were evaluated at least in part on the reading ability of their peasant congregations, Lutheran pastors may have had a tendency to inflate the actual numbers.
12. Raun, T. U. The development of Estonian literacy in the 18th and 19th centuries. – Journal of Baltic Studies, 1979, 10, 119; Aarma, L. Kirjaoskus Eestis 18. sajandi lõpust 1880. aastateni (nekrutinimekirjade andmeil). Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia Ajaloo Instituut, Tallinn, 1990.
13. Elango, A. et al. Eesti kooli ajalugu, II: 1860. aastaist 1917. aastani. Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus, Tallinn, 2010, 107–112, 120–136, 341–344, 478–490; Plakans, A. The Latvians. – In: Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855–1914. Ed. E. C. Thaden. Princeton University Press, 1981, 222–224.
14. Brasche, O. Die Rigaer Volkszählung von 3. März 1867. – Baltische Monatsschrift, 1870, 19, 533–534.
15. Jordan, P. Die Resultate der Volkszählung der Stadt Reval am 16. November 1871. Kluge & Ströhm, Tallinn, 1874, 2.
16. However, it should be noted that the 1881 census announcement displayed the need to reassure the population that the count had nothing to do with taxes or military service. See Eesti Ajalooarhiiv (EAA), f 3349, n 1, s 198, l 25, 41. In addition, rumors circulated about the alleged re-establishment of the dominant role of the landed nobility, even to the point of restoration of serfdom, and some resistance to the execution of the census took place in certain rural areas. See Tannberg, E., Tannberg, T. Rahvaloenduste algusaastatest Eestis. – Kleio, 1989, 2, 33; Jordan, P. Die Resultate der ehstländischen Volkszählung vom 29. December 1881 in textlicher Beleuchtung. Lindfors’ Erben, Tallinn, 1886, 9–15.
17. Must, A. Eestlaste perekonnaloo allikad. Kleio, Tartu, 2000, 159.
18. Tannberg, E., Tannberg, T. Rahvaloenduste algusaastatest Eestis, 29–30, 33.
19. Raun, T. U. Social change in Estland and Northern Livland, 1871–1897: The limits and uses of census data. – In: Population Shifts and Social Change in Russia’s Baltic Provinces 1855–1914. Eds G. von Pistohlkors et al. Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, Lüneburg, 1995, 85–86.
20. Hausmann, G. Bildung/Alphabetisierung. – In: Die Nationalitäten des Russischen Reiches in der Volkszählung von 1897, 2 vols. Eds H. Bauer et al. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart, 1991, I, 366.
21. Webermann, O. A. Pietismus und Brüdergemeinde, 158; Philipp, G. Die Wirksamkeit der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde unter den Esten und Letten zur Zeit der Bauernbefreiung, 53, 205–223; Салминь А. Я. О грамотности крестьян Лифляндской и Курляндской губерний в XVIII в. – История СССР, 1969, 13, 6, 136–140.
22. Die Nationalitäten des Russischen Reiches in der Volkszählung von 1897, 2 vols. Eds H. Bauer et al. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart, 1991, II, 231–232, 235.
23. Богданов И. М. Грамотность и образование в дореволюционной России и в СССР, 28–29, 179. On the revolutionary significance of rising urban literacy, see Guroff, G., Starr, S. F. A note on urban literacy in Russia, 1890–1914. – Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas, 1971, 19, 520–531.
24. Jordan, P. Die Resultate der ehstländischen Volkszählung von 29. December 1881 in textlicher Beleuchtung, 142–143; Jung-Stilling, F. von, Anders, W. Ergebnisse der livländischen Volkszählung, III, part 2: Die Zählung auf dem flachen Lande. Stahl’sche Buchdruckerei, Riga, 1885, Table 20.
25. Kappeler, A. Russland also Vielvölkerreich: Entstehnug, Geschichte, Zerfall. C. H. Beck, Munich, 1992, 332.
26. Kappeler, A. Russland also Vielvölkerreich: Entstehnug, Geschichte, Zerfall, 332.
27. Berendsen, V., Maiste, M. Esimene ülevenemaaline rahvaloendus Tartus 28. jaanuaril 1897. Eesti Ajalooarhiiv, Tartu, 1999, 258.
28. Whelan, H. The debate on women’s education in the Baltic provinces, 1850–1905. – In: Population Shifts and Social Change in Russia’s Baltic Provinces 1855–1914. Eds G. von Pistohlkors et al. Institut Nordostdeutsches Kulturwerk, Lüneburg, 1995, 163–180; Kivimäe, S. Estnische Frauenbildung in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. – Nordost Archiv, Neue Folge, 1992, 1, 281–308.
29. Jansen, E. ‘Baltlus’, baltisakslased, eestlased. – Tuna, 2005, 8, 3, 42.
