Foreign governesses and tutors were a ubiquitous presence on the Russian country estate. This thesis is an attempt to study their presence in Russian life and culture in two media. Firstly, I have conducted a historical data analysis of memoirs and diaries written by British governesses who worked in Russia and by their employers, members of the Russian nobility, who wrote about their upbringing under foreign tutelage. Secondly, the resulting impression was then compared with the representation of the foreign educator in literature. The aim of this approach is to highlight the noteworthy differences between the way these foreigners are referred to in historical sources and their literary image.