The Society for the Spreading of Literacy Among Georgians was a charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 founded by a group of leading Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 intellectuals in May 1879 in order to promote a cultural renaissance among the peasantry of Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. It survived into the early Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 period and operated until 1926/7.

Organized by the princes Ilia Chavchavadze and Dimitri Kipiani

Dimitri Kipiani

Prince Dimitri Kipiani was a Georgian publicist, writer, translator and a leader of liberal nobility....

, and an educator Iakob Gogebashvili

Iakob Gogebashvili

Iakob Gogebashvili was a Georgian educator, children’s writer and journalist, considered to be the founder of the scientific pedagogy in Georgia...

, the Society ran a network of schools, bookshops and libraries throughout the country; trained teachers and sponsored Georgian press. Prince Chavchavadze, a prominent writer, went on to play a leading role in the Society, succeeding the first chairman Kipiani in 1885 until his assassination in 1907. The organization, tolerated by the imperial authorities, involved virtually all active Georgian men of letters, several philanthropists and officials, and was instrumental in Georgian national revival in the latter half of the 19th century.