2 May] 1797, when Emperor Paul I of Russia gave an independent status to the Saint Petersburg Orphanage [ru], or foundling house, established by Ivan Betskoy and put it under the patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna.

[citation needed] The Imperial Foundling House developed as an educational establishment carrying progressive ideas of upbringing based upon charity and patronage.

[citation needed] In 1864, a pedagogical seminary was created for countryside students who were to become teachers of public schools and colleges.

Four years later, a women's college was established that granted specialisations of a nurse, village school and kindergarten children.

In the Mariininsky department, a reorganised foundling house, pedagogues like Mikhail Chistyakov [ru] worked, the editor-in-chief of "Children's magazine" and the author of books for children, and Vasily Zolotov [ru], an adherent of the "sound method" of teaching reading and writing and an author of textbooks for public colleges.