The records in the Hughesovka Research Archive can provide useful source material for GCSE History Syllabus A, In-Depth Study 5, Russia in Revolution. They are particularly useful for providing practice in interpreting sources, extracting information, and evaluating evidence.
John Hughes, an engineer from Merthyr Tydfil, went to the steppes of the southern Ukraine (then part of Imperial Russia) in the 1870s. Here he established a major industrial complex, and a town developed around it: Hughesovka. Many of the skilled workers in Hughesovka came from Wales and the rest of the UK. Some settled there and brought their families out. Records relating to Hughesovka are now held by the Glamorgan Record Office in the Hughesovka Research Archive.
A
view of the Hughesovka works, about 1912
Using a small number of the records, we have developed two classroom resources:
Resource 1 : Russia under the Tsar: the nature and structure of Russian society as observed by a Welsh governess.
The acute observations of a Welsh teacher who went to Russia as a governess in the 1890s provide interesting insights into Russian society in the decade before the 1905 revolution.
Resource 2: Lenin's final years: the economic and social condition of Russia in 1921, and life under the communists, seen through the eyes of a British girl growing up in Russia.
Extracts from this fascinating account of a childhood in post-revolutionary Russia illustrate vividly the social and economic conditions of the time.
You can use the resources on an electronic whiteboard, or download them as PDFs to use as traditional worksheets.
You can also use the images (or any of the images on this website) to create your own classroom resources, or for any other educational purpose within the school. If you want to use them for any other purpose, please contact the Glamorgan Record Office.
Or why not visit the Glamorgan Record Office to look at the records yourself? We welcome contact with teachers.