METHODOLOGY FOR THE PREPARATION OF MUSEOGRAPHIC EDITIONS BY DOMESTIC RESEARCHERS OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX – EARLY XX CENTURIES

Abstract

The object of the study is domestic museum publications of the second half of the XIX-th – early XX-th centuries. Museographic texts are considered from the point of view of the formation of source studies in Ukraine. The primary focus is on positivist approaches to working with a historical source. The subject of the study is focused on the principles and methods of attributing items in museum collections. It is shown that their introduction into scientific circulation was based on the observance of the principle of historicism and objectivity. The analysis of museographic texts showed that scientists used an empirical approach to studying objects in museum collections: museographers practiced direct, sensory-experiential work with the subject of the collection. The article shows how historians used the method of direct comparison, historical-genetic, and historical-comparative methods. It is shown that they based their conclusions on the analysis of external features of artifacts: shape, ornamentation, and material. Particular attention is paid to the method of induction, which was very popular among positivists. Its application is demonstrated by specific examples of the formation of conclusions about an artifact's origin based on several heterogeneous facts about it. The article shows how museum workers classified and systematized collection items. It was established that the main principle of grouping collections was the chronological principle. In the middle of the selected historical periods, objects were distributed according to formal characteristics: material and category of the object. A more complex classification – the selection of types in the middle of homogeneous objects – is based on a comprehensive analysis of the technical features of the artifacts. The authors concluded that domestic museographic works of the second half of the XIX – early XX century are a clear example of a positivist view of historical research. Museographers introduced a significant number of historical sources into scientific circulation. They showed that these sources reflect different aspects of the life of the people of Ukraine from ancient times to the twentieth century. An important conclusion is the critical use of museography in the second half of the XIX – early XX century. That is due to the fact that errors in attributive work were revealed in museum editions of the past.