Scientific сoncepts of the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan University in the 19th сentury

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2020-52-4/115-124

Abstract

The article discusses the developmental concept of the Ethnographic museum of Kazan University in the context of development of ethnographic knowledge. Particular attention is paid to the stages of formation of the ethnographic collection, the specifics of formation of collections and aspects of reorganization of museum structures. The authors highlighted the problems that the museum collection faced in the period under review: the lack of interested ethnographers and planned museum work. However, it was concluded that functioning of the Ethnographic museum in the XIX century contributed to accumulation of a large diverse collection, which provided support for the educational process and scientific research at Kazan University later.
Over almost a hundred-year history the ethnographic collection of Kazan University changed its affiliation several times, ending up in funds of various structural divisions, and, in fact, never became a museum. The profile of an ethnographic unit was often defined by the scientific interests of its head. Thus, this collection was formed not as a result of a planned, purposeful replenishment, but rather spontaneously, largely due to various gifts to the university, and therefore, most of the museum's ethnographic exhibits came from regions that were far from the “small motherland”.

References

1. Burlykina, M.I. 1996. Universitetskie muzei dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii (XVIII – pervaia chetvert’ XX vv.) [University Museums of Pre-Revolutionary Russia 18^th – the First Quarter of the 20^th Centuries)]. Syktyvkar: Syktyvkarskii gosudarstvennyi universitet.
2. Valeev, R.M. 2002. Osip Mikhailovich Kovalevskii, 1801–1878 [Osip Mikhailovich Kovalevskiy, 1801–1878]. Kazan: Izdatel’stvo Kazanskogo universiteta.
3. Gushchina, E.G. 2019. Etnograficheskoe sobranie Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta: istoriia formirovaniia i razvitiia [Ethnographic Collection of the Imperial Kazan University: History of Formation and Development]. Izvestiia obshchestva arkheologii, istorii i etnografii pri Kazanskom universitete 39 (1–2).
4. Stoliarova, G.R., E.G. Gushchina, and T.A. Titova. 2015. Vostochnye kollektsii Kabineta redkostei Kazanskogo Imperatorskogo universiteta [Eastern Collections of the Cabinet of Rarities of Kazan Imperial University]. Vestnik KAZGUKI 4 (2): 37–40.