Examination Books of Female Students of the Department of Theory and History of Art at the Bestuzhev Courses as a Historical Source (Based on Materials from the Central State Historical Archive of Saint Petersburg)

Within the social direction of the historiography of higher education, scholars
have shown sustained interest in some types of administrative and record-keeping sources
produced by universities. Among them, student matriculation records, later transformed
into examination record books, stand out. The university tradition of student identifi cation
documents was transferred to the Bestuzhev Courses. Using the material from the examination
books of female students who specialised in the Department of Theory and History of Art,
this article, for the fi rst time in Russian historiography, reveals the distinctive features of this
type of historical source.

Bestuzhev Courses, Department of Theory and History of Arts, examination books, female students, subject-based system