Life of Siberia journal on development of museum business of Western Siberia in 1920s

The article is devoted to the question of covering of the situation in museums ofWestern Siberia Life of Siberia journal in 1920s. In 1920 Sibrevkom, body of the extreme power in Siberia, began to issue a journalrelease Life of Red Siberia. Its authors and editors gave basic attention to questions of the Soviet policy, economics, activity of localdepartments of Sibrevkom. In connection with moving of Sibrevkom to Novonikolaevsk (later - Novosibirsk) the journal also moved tothe new administrative centre of Siberia where it was published in 1922-1931 under the title Life of Siberia. The primary goal of thejournal remained the same - to show economic and administrative life of Siberia, but in due course its program extended and includedsuch columns as In regional areas, Study of local tradition, The critic and the bibliography. Publications of regional studies characterappeared in Life of Siberia in 1923. Along with other questions authors of articles were concerned with the activity of museums ofWestern Siberia, considering them as organizational centres of study of local tradition and as educational centres. The most advancedauthors who wrote about museums were G.I. Cheremnykh, N.K. Auarbakh and others. Interest of these authors in the condition andprospects of museum business of Siberia can be estimated as an obvious sign of growth of attention of the authorities and the public tothe museum problems. Besides, in the journal there were messages under a uniform name Chronicle of study of local tradition whichregularly told about activity of this or that Siberian museum, for example Tomsk, Omsk and Novonikolaevsk (Novosibirsk) museums,other events of museum life of the region. It is necessary to notice that the information on museums appeared in the column The criticand the bibliography in the form of short summaries of editions about museums. On the boundary of 1920s-1930s in the course of agreat crisis in the Soviet Russia the program of Life of Siberia was completely reconsidered; policy questions were put forward. Andafter the First All-Russia museum congress of 1930, coverage of museum problems in other periodicals also changed radically. Museumswere considered exclusively as establishments on organization and carrying out of political and propaganda work.

Keywords

Authors

References