New Perspectives in Science Education

Municipal archives offer a way to examine how the teaching of natural sciences was supported and organised at the local level. This paper develops a source-critical framework for studying science education in Bulgaria between 1878 and 1912. Its central question is how municipal records can connect curricular requirements with school resources and documented teaching practices.

The proposed approach compares municipal council minutes, budgets, correspondence and procurement records with school reports, inventories and curricula. Natural history and physics form the main subject focus; chemistry is considered where its teaching is explicitly documented for the school level concerned. Sources are examined in relation to their institutional origin, date and purpose, while historical subject terminology is retained.

The framework distinguishes between prescribed content, authorised expenditure, acquisition of equipment, recorded availability and documented classroom use. These categories help establish what each source demonstrates and where further evidence is required. An allocation for scientific apparatus, for example, documents an administrative decision, while delivery and teaching use require additional records.

A preliminary review of public institutional catalogues identifies potential sources for applying the framework. The paper contributes a structured method for reconstructing the local conditions of science teaching and interpreting municipal documentation alongside educational records. Its broader educational value lies in demonstrating how historical claims about science education can be built from traceable and critically assessed evidence.

Keywords: history of science education; municipal archives; educational administration; school equipment; source criticism

Ministerstvo na narodnoto prosveshtenie. (1894). Programa za osnovni uchilishta v Balgariya. Sofia.

Gabrovski gradski-obshtinski vestnik. (1901). Gabrovo: Pechatnitsa G. Kehaev.