The article shows how the works of the historian L. M. Artamonova from Samara reveals the impact changes in the field of public education and culture of provincial Russia in the XVIII-XXth centuries on the example of educational institutions in the cities and villages at Central Volga. «The look from the province» allows to see in a new light results of educational reforms in respect of the all-Russian modernization. Teachers played an important role in formation of the local intellectuals, not only in education, but also in scientific studying of the native land.