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Salmin A. Scientific and Museum Activities of the MAE RAS on Representation of the Chuvash Cultural and Historical Heritage

Anton Salmin
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the RAS
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-1072-9933
E-mail: antsalmin@mail.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. The article analyzes how the scientific and museum activities of the MAE RAS represent and explore the themes devoted to the history and culture of the Chuvash people. The 21st century saw an increased activity of the museum in the areas of unearthing, studying, publishing, and popularizing its Chuvash collections. By now the collection inventories of Chuvash objects have been almost completely digitized and organized into a unified, comprehensive computer database. The author draws particular attention to the work of V. Radlov, director of the museum and a renowned scholar of the Chuvash culture. In total, there are 27 collections in the MAE RAS, including objects of Chuvash culture and illustrations. The overall number, according to revised data, is 317 items. The earliest museum Chuvash item originates from the academic expeditions of Peter Simon Pallas. In many cases, the information about the exhibits was verified and expanded in the archives of St. Petersburg. For example, it was discovered that the Yerekh rag dolls from Collection № 347 had been collected in settlements down the Bula river by V. Andeievsky, an investigator of the Second Department of the Buinsky Uyezd in the Simbirsk province. Academic debates over the origins of some of the items acquired by the museum after 1928 from the widow of the musical instruments collector N. Findeizen, are still ongoing.

 

KEYWORDS: museums, collections, exhibitions, MAE RAS, Chuvash

 

FOR CITATION: Salmin A. Scientific and Museum Activities of the MAE RAS on Representation of the Chuvash Cultural and Historical Heritage. Kunstkamera. 2025. 2 (28): 193–203. (In Russian). DOI: 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-2(28)-193-203

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2025-2(28)-193-203
UDC 069.5:39

 

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