Podarok bednym, 1834
Подарок бедным: альманах на 1834 год / Изд. Новороссийское женское общество призрения бедных. – Одесса: Гор. тип., 1834. – [4], 196 с., 1 л. ил.
In 1833–1834, famine caused by crop failure spread across the southern provinces of the Russian Empire. Assistance to the starving was the responsibility of the local administration, which had to address the problems brought on by the famine (allocating funds from the treasury to meet the population’s basic needs: food, clothing, and fuel for heating living quarters). The Women’s Charitable Society also joined in organizing support for the starving and managed to raise 107,000 rubles. Despite the efforts of both authorities and citizens, the funds remained insufficient. Under these circumstances, the Novorossiysk Women’s Charitable Society decided to publish literary almanacs for charitable purposes. The women philanthropists issued two collections in Russian and French. The Russian-language almanac was titled “Podarok bednym” (“A Gift to the Poor”), and the French-language one “La Quêteuse”.
By being published, these collections set the stage for a tradition of literary almanacs issued for charitable purposes, which fully developed in the second half of the 19th century.