M.A. Polumordvinov as orientalist and collector (based on materials of the Tomsk Regional Museum and TSU Scientific Library)

The article analyzes personality of orientalist Mikhail Arkadievich Polumordvinov (1867, Saratov province - 1917, Tomsk), a military ethnographer and collector of Buddhism and culture of Asian peoples (China, Mongolia, Japan, Tibet, etc.). The basis for the study is the Mikhail Polumordvinov' Book Collection, which is located in the Tomsk State University scientific library, and other materials, stored in the Tomsk Regional Museum named after Mikhail Bonifatievich Shatilov, namely books, photographs and manuscripts with attribution of artefacts. The article tells about the content of the personal library of Mikhail Polumordvinov and the places where books were published with special attention to the Printing House of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, the Publishing House of the Eastern Institute, the Printing House of the Uspensky Monastery under the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, the Tipo-lithography of the Zaamursky District Headquarters, the Russian-Chinese Printing House “Yuan-Dun-Bao”, Electro-steam typo-lithography of the "Bergut and Son" Partnerships. Also, we consider Mikhail Polumordvinov's interest to books of certain content according to his military interests (in terms of duty) and cultural interests (Buddhism and the culture of Asia). Further analysis number of books published in different decades from the point of view of fashion to the East, which affected the publishing industry and the world exhibition movement, which, in turn, provided materials for research and procurement of Mikhail Polumordvinov. Further analysis themes of books of Mikhail Polumordvinov's collection on the regions, his priorities in the collection of publications and the reasons for these priorities are highlighted. The article also reveals the degree of prestige of Mikhail Polumordvinov among his colleagues and other orientalists of the Manchurian region; his belonging to the unspoken oriental scientific community as an authoritative specialist and considers his publishing and translating activities in the ЗО ОКПС (Zaamursky District of the Border Guard). The result of this work is the opportunity to consider the personality of Mikhail Polumordvinov as an Orientalist, not a serviceman, and as an enthusiastic collector seeking to gather better information about his subjects. Also, the article will assess the scientific approach of Mikhail Polumordvinov to the collection of Buddhist art objects. Also, this article will allow to evaluate the scientific approach of Mikhail Polumordvinov to collection of objects of Buddhist art and his perception of Russia, the mainland and insular South-East Asia as a unified political and cultural region.

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