The first all-russian museum congress and its influence on siberian museums

This article is devoted to unexplored topic of restructuring of Siberia museums, formed on the plans of the 1st Museum Congress. Relying on archival and published documents, the evidence of Museum employees allowed us to make historical reconstruction of the preparation and holding of the 1st Museum Congress. Now it turned out two Siberian muzeologists, the leaders of Novosibirsk and Barnaul museums P.I. Kutafiev and V.P. Lebedev, took place in the Congress along with other delegates. All resolutions and decisions of the Congress were obligatory for museums. They directed the museums to “start of Socialist construction”, demanded a reorganization of museums and creating Museum expositions based on the theory of socio-economic formation. Implementation of the Congress decisions in Siberia were began with restructuring of the museum network. Novosibirsk regional museum was put in a head of all Siberian museums. Omsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, Krasnoyarsk museums functioned as a base ones. All other smaller museums called as district ones. This structure determined museum funding. At the same time museum structure was changed, and introductory, historical-revolutionary and socialist constructions departments were opened. Still not every Siberian museum was rebuilt. For example, the Tomsk regional museum wanted to preserve its unique Oriental department, but at the behest of the center powers, Tomsk museum managers were forced to abolish that department and create a historical-revolutionary one. According to the 1940, nature, history, socialist construction and art divisions operated at Tomsk museum. However, changes to the Museum structure brought no particular harm. Negative attitude of the 1st Museum Congress to gathering and custody of museum objects, its fight against material things, or veschevizm, had destructive effects. Far from being immediately Siberian museums obeyed it. In half of 1930-s almost all museums in Siberia continued to collect on archaeology and ethnography things. Barnaul and Omsk museums collected material on the graves of prominent compatriots, ancient icons. Over time, however, the original objects replaced by layouts and models. All of that got poorer museum expositions, turned them into a collection of posters, diagrams and cartograms, which talked about the successes of the Socialist construction. “Cleaning” of personnel was the most disastrous consequence of the 1st Museum Congress. Since early 1930s a wave of arrests enveloped Siberian museums. The most prominent Siberian museologists M.B. Shatilov, N.P. Kajdalov, M.A. Kravkov, A.V. Kharchevnikov, M.P. Kopotilov, P.S. Mikhno were arrested and killed. Repression against museologists brought irreparable damage to Siberian Museum science. The intention of the Soviet leadership to move museums on “Socialist Rails” has brought them to a standstill. Siberian museums needed a lot of time and much effort to go out that impasse.

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