Nadezhda Stasova

Born June 12 (24), 1822, in Tsarskoe Selo, now the city of Pushkin; died Sept. 27 (Oct. 9), 1895, in St. Petersburg. Leader in the Russian women’s movement.

Stasova was the daughter of V. P. Stasov and the sister of V. V. Stasov and D. V. Stasov. She helped organize and operate Sunday schools during the revolutionary situation of 1859–61, and belonged to the women’s triumvirate that also included M. V. Trubnikova and A. P. Filosofova.

Stasova headed the women’s movement in Russia from the early 1860’s to the mid-1890’s. She helped found the Society for Cheap Apartments (1859) and the Publishing Artel (1863), an association of women translators. Stasova organized the struggle for women’s higher education, which led to the inauguration of the Vladimir and Bestuzhev courses in St. Petersburg (1870 and 1878, respectively). She was the first director of the Bestuzhev courses and a committee member of the Society for Collecting Funds for Higher Courses; until 1899 she was chairman of the Society for Assistance to Graduates of Science Courses at Advanced Courses for Women. Stasova was also instrumental in founding the Children’s Aid society (1894) and some of the first children’s nurseries in Russia.