Cup collection is a form of mass fundraising for charitable purposes. In Europe it has been known since the Middle Ages, when it was widespread everywhere.
In Russia it was recognized by a Senate decree of April 20, 1781, āOn measures to provide food for beggars,ā 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 assistance to the poor by establishing hospitals, schools, almshouses, and orphanages). The decree, in particular, stated: āThe Board of Public Welfare, taking care of feeding the needy, is obliged to establish boxes for collecting alms in them, made by willing donors.ā
From the late 18th century, cup collections began to be organized by private individuals, and from the 1870s also by charitable organizations. Both acted 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, as a rule, were made of tin, had a lid with a lock and a slot for coins. At first, such boxes (officially called āpublicā or ācollectionā boxes) were usually placed at the entrance to churches. Later, in the 19th century, they were also placed in areas of lively tradeāat shopping arcades and street marketsāas well as in railway station buildings, and in state and public institutions. The boxes were usually firmly fastened to the stone wall of a building. Nearby, five or six steps away, there was Š¾Š±ŃŠ·Š°ŃŠµŠ»ŃŠ½Š¾ a guard or a police officer to deter thieves.
One of the first effective cup collections was a charitable campaign devised by merchants in the interests of childrenās shelters. It was organized at the initiative of the elder (trustee) of the First Vasilievsky Island Childrenās Shelter in Saint Petersburg, the merchant Nikolai Terentyev. In December 1841, Terentyev submitted a report addressed to the chairman of the Main Board of Guardianship of Childrenās Shelters, Count Grigory Stroganov, proposing to install boxes in places of brisk trade. Every merchant, the report said, began the working day with a prayer before āryadā icons (that is, icons placed in the ŃŠ¾ŃŠ³Š¾Š²ŃŠµ rows). Under them there were always church boxes for collecting money to buy candles and lamp oil. Terentyev proposed placing charitable collection boxes next to the church ones: āthe latter are guarded by the row watchmen,ā who āmust also guard these boxes.ā
Terentyevās proposal attracted the interest of senior officials. The plan of the childrenās shelter trustee was also approved by Emperor Nicholas I. A special regulation of the Committee of Ministers was issued on the rules of this cup collection. The Commission for the supervision of the cup collection included five people, including the merchant Terentyev. The rules instructed 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 leather bags locked with a key, the counter delivered the money to the Commission. There it was recounted in the presence of all members and the amount was entered into a register. The money was then transferred for the needs of Saint Petersburg childrenās shelters.
In the spring of 1842, Terentyev paid for the manufacture of 56 boxes. They were installed in 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, in the Saint Petersburg port customs house, and also on six steamships running between Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt, and between Saint Petersburg and Shlisselburg.
The boxes had engraved 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 in Gostiny Dvor. From eight boxes, a total of 84 rubles 29 kopecks in silver was collected. With that 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 cup collection found an active response among residents of Saint Petersburg and its surroundings, as evidenced by the donation counting registers that have survived to this day. Thus, for JuneāNovember 1843, 286 rubles 85 kopecks in silver were collected in 45 boxes.
In the second half of the 19th century, cup collections became ubiquitous in Russia. People willingly took part in them, because 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 1877ā1878, at the request of Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna (wife of the future Russian Emperor Alexander III), donation boxes were installed on Nevsky Prospect at the gates of the Anichkov Palace, the official royal residence. These donations were transferred to the Russian Red Cross Society and used to purchase medical equipment for field hospitals and mobile sanitary detachments in the Balkans.
In January 1895, Vladimir Kovalevsky, Director of the Department of Trade and Manufactures of the Ministry of Finance, allowed a box to be placed in the ministry building. Ministry officials and numerous visitors, mainly entrepreneurs, dropped money into this box to support a free childrenās canteen that had ŃŠ°Š½ŠµŠµ been set up near the Admiralty at 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 19thā20th centuries. Collectors carried them during Š¼Š°ŃŃŠ¾Š²ŃŠµ charitable campaigns, for example on White Daisy Day and Red Egg Day during Easter week.
On Red Egg Day, the Elisavetinsky Charitable Society collected money for the needs of childrenās night shelters and childrenās labor artels. Thus, on April 9, 1913 alone, across the country, more than 50,000 rubles were collected in 2,159 boxes (with only 72 boxes found empty).