The Molleson couple – founders of the natural history museum in Kyakhta

Abstract

The paper analyzes scientific collaboration of the spouses Vladislav and Maria Molleson. They lived in little town Troitskosavsk (today it is Kyakhta, Republic of Buryatia) in the second half of the 19th century. They both had a day job teaching in different local secondary schools but all their spare time was spent researching local nature venturing even into Mongolia for this purpose during summer breaks. As a result, they acquired large collections of natural artifacts: birds, animals, plants, etc. Logically the next step was to write and publish scientific papers which they did. Together with a group of equal-minded teachers they organized a society for natural exploration of the region which soon in 1894 became a part of the Troitskosavsko-Kyakhtinskoye branch of the Priamursky branch of the Russian Geographical Society. One of the first things new Society did was to combine all private collections of its founders into proper museum of natural sciences. Vladislav and Maria Molleson tended for the mentioned museum during nearly two decades together and separately. The paper aims to analyze their activity not as of one person and his helper but as of a united team of equal partners.