Imperial Tomsk University Museums: the first years of establishment and activities

The problem of the article is formulated as historical reconstruction of the Imperial Tomsk University Museum Science right from the start of its activity. The solution of the problem is based on the analysis of laws about the University, archive documents and some other resources. It is known that Tomsk State University opened in 1888 consisting of only the medical faculty. But along with medical departments, departments of physics, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology were opened. The Botanical, Zoological, Min-eralogical, Anatomical, and Archaeological museums were established as well. Heads and employees of the museums were appointed. The Botanical Museum was headed by Professor S.I. Korzhinskiy, the custodian of the Museum was Master of Pharmacy P.N. Krylov. The Mineralogical Museum was headed by Professor A.M. Zaytsev, the custodian was Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences A.N. Derzhavin. The Anatomical Museum was headed by Professor N.M. Maliyev, and S.M. Chugunov worked as a prosector. The head of the Zoological Museum was Professor N.F. Kashchenko, at the same time he was the custodian of the Museum. E.D. Peltsam worked as a conservator in the Zoological Museum. Established in 1882, the Archaeological Museum had no staff. The Museum was under the supervision of its creator, Head of the West Siberian district of Education, Professor V.M. Florinskiy. He was the only worker of this museum as well. In 1888 Museums of the University were placed in large rooms. The Museum members started to collect museum funds. There were three directions for museum formation. The first direction was gifts and donations of various collectors. The second one was based on objects the University purchased. The third most productive direction was Siberian expeditions and trips of University members to European cities. Many items on mineralogy, geology, zoology, botany, and archeology were collected in the expeditions. The staff of university museums did a great job of systematization of collections. The most significant event of the first years of the University Museums was publication of the catalogue of the Archaeological Museum. His author Professor V.M. Florinskiy described nearly 4500 items, wrote valuable scientific commentaries. From the early days of the Imperial Tomsk University, the collections of the Museums were used in educational process, in research, participated in exhibitions. Townspeople and Siberian travelers visited the museums. And the University museums helped the city of Tomsk to transform into a center of study and popularization of scientific knowledge of Siberia. They created the image of the University and Tomsk as well.

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