Box collections are a form of mass fundraising for charitable purposes. In Europe they have been known since the Middle Ages, when they were widespread everywhere.
In Russia, they were recognized by a Senate decree of April 20, 1781, "On measures to provide food for beggars," as a tool for raising funds by the Boards of Public Welfare (provincial institutions created in 1775 by order of Empress Catherine II to organize aid to the poor by establishing hospitals, schools, almshouses, and orphanages). The decree, in particular, stated: "The Board of Public Welfare, being responsible for feeding the destitute, is obliged to establish boxes for collecting alms placed there by willing donors."
From the late 18th century, box collections began to be organized by private individuals, and from the 1870s also by charitable organizations. Both operated in coordination with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In each case, the location for placing the boxes and the procedure for removing, counting, and registering the collected sums were agreed upon.
The boxes were usually made of tin, had a lid with a lock and a slot for coins. At first, such boxes (officially referred to as "public" or "collection" boxes) were typically placed at the entrance to churches. Later, in the 19th century, they were also placed in areas of active trade—at market arcades and street markets—as well as inside railway stations and in state and public institutions. The boxes were usually fastened permanently to the building’s stone wall. Nearby, five or six steps away, there was always a guard or a police officer to deter thieves.
One of the first effective box collections was a charitable campaign devised by merchants for the benefit of children’s shelters. It was organized at the initiative of the head (trustee) of the First Vasileostrovsky Children’s Shelter in Saint Petersburg, the merchant Nikolai Terentyev. In December 1841, Terentyev submitted a report to the chairman of the Main Trusteeship of Children’s Shelters, Count Grigory Stroganov, proposing that boxes be installed in places of brisk trade. Every merchant, the report said, began the workday with a prayer before "ryad" (that is, located in the trading rows) icons. Beneath them there always stood church boxes for collecting money to buy candles and lamp oil. Terentyev proposed placing charitable collection boxes next to the church ones: "the latter are guarded by the row watchmen," who "must also guard these boxes."
Terentyev’s proposal attracted the interest of high-ranking officials. The plan of the shelter’s trustee was also approved by Emperor Nicholas I. A special regulation of the Committee of Ministers was issued setting out the rules for this box collection. A Commission to supervise the box collection included five people, among them the merchant Terentyev. The rules required the counter (one of the Commission members) to remove the money from the boxes once every two months, between the 25th and 30th. Then, in locked leather bags, the counter delivered the money to the Commission. There it was counted in the presence of all members and the amount was entered into a register. The money was then allocated to the needs of Saint Petersburg children’s shelters.
In the spring of 1842, Terentyev had 56 boxes made at his own expense. They were installed in the Gostiny Dvor, at the Apraksin and Nikolsky markets, at the cattle yard, in the waiting halls of railway stations in Saint Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo, and Pavlovsk, at the Saint Petersburg port customs house, and also on six steamships running between Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt, and between Saint Petersburg and Shlisselburg.
Engraved on the boxes were scenes on biblical themes and quotations from the Gospel, intended to remind benefactors of the need to care for orphaned children.
The first removal of funds took place in June 1842 at the Gostiny Dvor. From eight boxes, a total of 84 rubles 29 kopecks in silver was collected. With this money one could buy, for example, 4.8 tons of flour (in those years, a sack of flour weighing nine poods (147 kg) cost 2 rubles 60 kopecks in silver in summer).
The box collection received an active response from residents of Saint Petersburg and its surroundings, as evidenced by donation-counting statements that have survived to this day. Thus, for June–November 1843, 286 rubles 85 kopecks in silver was collected in 45 boxes.
In the second half of the 19th century, box collections became ubiquitous in Russia. People readily participated, since this form of philanthropy was accessible to everyone, had strict accountability, and was transparent: newspapers reported the collected amounts.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, at the request of Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna (the wife of the future Russian Emperor Alexander III), donation boxes were installed on Nevsky Prospect by the gates of the Anichkov Palace, the official royal residence. These donations were transferred to the Russian Red Cross Society and were used to purchase medical equipment for field hospitals and flying ambulance detachments in the Balkans.
In January 1895, Vladimir Kovalevsky, Director of the Department of Trade and Manufactures of the Ministry of Finance, authorized the placement of a collection box in the ministry building. Ministry officials and numerous visitors, mostly entrepreneurs, dropped money into this box to support a free children’s canteen that had been set up earlier near the Admiralty on the initiative of the priest John of Kronstadt.
In addition to stationary boxes, portable ones also began to be used at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Collectors carried them during mass charity campaigns, for example on White Chamomile Day and Red Egg Day during Easter week.
On Red Egg Day, the Elisavetinskoye Charitable Society collected money for the needs of children’s night shelters and children’s labor cooperatives. Thus, on April 9, 1913 alone, more than 50,000 rubles were collected across the country in 2,159 boxes (and only 72 boxes turned out to be empty).