This article examines patronage activities in the fields of education and culture in the Akmola and Semipalatinsk regions during the second half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries. In the context of limited state support, the initiatives of local patrons played a decisive role in the development of public education and cultural life. The purpose of the study is to identify the main types of patronage, assess their contribution to social development, and highlight the regional specificities of this phenomenon.

The research is based on archival documents from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan (CSARK, F.44, F.64), periodical press materials (Turgaiskaya gazeta, Irtysh), as well as scholarly works by A. Glagolev, S. Novikova, T. Kazovskaya, Z. Makhmutov, and T. Titova. The methodological framework includes historical-genetic, comparative, and system-structural approaches, which made it possible to analyze the typology of patronage and its socio-psychological dimensions.

The study identified four main types of patronage: spontaneous, collector’s, custodial, and community-based. The novelty of the article lies in the first systematic characterization of patronage activities in the Akmola and Semipalatinsk regions based on archival sources. The article emphasizes the historical role of patronage in cultural development and suggests that past experience can serve as a valuable reference point for encouraging charitable initiatives in contemporary society.