An agricultural school was officially opened in the Gory-Gorki estate of the Mogilev province on August 15, 1840. It later transformed into an agricultural institute, the predecessor of the modern Belarusian State Agricultural Academy.
This educational institution was the first of its kind on the territory of Belarus. For some time, it was the only institution of higher education on the Belarusian land. The Gory-Gorki Agricultural Institute existed until 1863. After its closure, several secondary agricultural educational institutions remained in Gorki: an agricultural school, land surveying and taxation classes, a trade and agricultural school, etc. The institute was restored in 1919. Later, the educational institution was reorganized and renamed several times. Today, the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy (BSAA) is one of the leading higher educational institutions in the national education system of the Republic of Belarus. The Academy is a city within a city with 16 educational buildings, 13 student dormitories, residential buildings, the Palace of Culture, a sports complex, a botanical garden and a library with a book fund of more than 1 million copies.
The history of the BSAA is extremely interesting and rich in persons and events. The educational institution has trained more than one generation of highly qualified specialists. It has always been the center of agricultural science and education. Within its walls, many famous scientists passed on their knowledge to younger generations and conducted scientific research: A.V. Sovetov, I.A. Stebut, A.M. Bazhanov, M.V. Rytov, A.M. Ludogovsky, K. D. Schmidt, S.S. Kossovich, E. F. Rego, Ya.N. Afanasyev, A.D. Dubakh, A.I. Kaigorodov, O. K. Kedrov-Zikhman, S.P. Melnik, V.N. Lubyako, T.N. Godnev and others. The Academy has repeatedly been in the center of various historical events - military, socio-political, revolutionary, became the focus of cultural and literary life, an active local history movement. According to some researchers, the famous poem "Taras on Parnassus" was written here. Ivan Turgenev and Taras Shevchenko, Yakub Kolas and Yanka Kupala, Maxim Goretsky and Pavlina Medelka had connections with the educational institution.
The collections of the National Library of Belarus contain many valuable documents related to the Academy. These are scientific works (starting with the "Notes of the Gory-Gorky Agricultural Institute"), thematic collections, materials of experimental stations and scientific societies operating at the educational institution, books and articles on the history of the Academy in different periods of its existence. Bibliographic information can be obtained through the electronic catalogue and the consolidated EIR "National Bibliography of Belarus". Digital copies of the Academy's publications for the corresponding period are presented in the virtual resource “Belarusian Literary Heritage. 1919-1939 Journals." Factual information is contained in the database “Belarus in Persons and Events”.
The history of the educational institution, various aspects of its activities are comprehensively reflected in the multimedia edition of the National Library of Belarus “100 Years of History Belarusian State Agricultural Academy: Documents and Materials of 1840-1940. "(Minsk, 2015).
The electronic edition contains a detailed bibliographic index; a large number of digital copies of documents; scientific articles and essays highlighting the main stages in the history of the BSAA; visual diagrams showing the departmental subordination of the educational institution, its structure, reorganization and renaming in different periods; visual block (photographs, maps, plans, etc.); biographical materials dedicated to the teaching staff and other famous persons in the history of the Academy. The publication was prepared in cooperation with the I.S. Lupinovich Belarusian Agricultural Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Department of Source Studies of the Faculty of History of the Belarusian State University, the library and the museum of the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy within the framework of the research work "Virtual Reconstruction of the Documents and Materials on the Regional History of Belarus."
Bibliology Research Department
