Local History Museum Research Articles

ИСТОРИЯ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ И ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ МУЗЕЙНЫХ СОВЕТОВ В КРАЕВЕДЧЕСКИХ МУЗЕЯХ СЕВЕРО-ВОСТОКА КАЗАХСТАНА В 40–50-х гг. XX в.

The article «History of formation and activity of Council of Museums in museums of local history of the north-east of Kazakhstan in the 40-50s of the XX century» deals with the problem of organizing research in museums. The First All-Russian Museum Congress in 1931 contributed the transformation of museums from academic centers to cultural institutions and made scientific research impossible in museums. However, the lack of professionally trained personnel, the low level of scientific description of collections, construction of expositions, exhibitions, content of lectures and excursions, led to a gradual decline of the authority of museums. Based on the documents that were found in the funds of the State archives of Pavlodar region, Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, the authors convincingly prove the flawed and erroneous attitudes of the congress. The study used archival documents on the creation of Council of Museums, their personnel composition, and main activities. It is proved that the need to revive the research activities of museums has led to new forms and methods of organizing research work. Council of Museums in local history museums of the north-east of Kazakhstan were established in the late 1940s. There were difficulties in organization due to the lack of specialists who could work in the museum on a voluntary basis. They attracted employees of party, soviet, and trade union organizations who were educated as teachers of geography and history. In special cases, managers of agriculture and industry were included. The members of the Council worked in three directions corresponding to the structure of the departments of local history museums of that time: nature, history, industry and agriculture. The Council of the Pavlodar regional Museum of Local History was registered only formally, its members did not meet and did not take any part in the activities of the museum. This was explained by the insufficient number of professional personnel, due to the lack of higher educational institutions in the region, as well as the employment of specialists in the main job. A significant number of interested specialists lived in Semipalatinsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk, forming a group of local history activists there, which had a positive impact on the creation and work of Council of Museums. Members of the councils gave lectures in the museum, went on business trips to collect exhibits, were engaged in the preparation, examination and adjustment of thematic and exposition plans, preparation of collected materials for exhibition, helped to establish the relationship of museums with administrative, industrial and public organizations. Museum employees could not perform such work on their own, due to the lack of necessary professional competencies and time. Thus, we can conclude that it is necessary to include third-party workers of science and education in the museum councils. The governing bodies and museum workers felt a lack of specialists in various fields of knowledge. The staff of the museums consisted of people without secondary, and in most cases higher education. They did not have the skills of systematization and were not familiar with the scientific methods of collecting and processing museum materials. The decisions of the Council of Museums were not official, but they were very significant and necessary. Without their activities, the museum practice of the region would not be so effective and efficient.

«Собирание» и экспонирование этнографии Бийским краеведческим музеем в 1920-е гг.

The article deals with the problem of the beginning of ethnographic collections in the first decade of the Bianki Local History Museum of Biysk, field research and exhibition techniques.

THE ROLE OF INNOVATIVE MANAGEMENT FACILITIES IN MUSEUMS ACTIVITIES

Introduction. The source of mechanisms of museums adaptation according to modern economy conditions lies in complete modernization of museum space based on strategic planning, scientific organization of management and implementation of new technological decisions in museum institutions activity. Specifically, the innovative museum technologies in the mix with modern management will guarantee the timely museum reaction on public requirements. A discrepancy in the instrumentation in its turn causes great reducing the level of attractiveness for modern user of museum services. Purpose and methods. The purpose of the study is the analysis of using facilities in innovative management sphere of museum institutions activities and its influence on museum industry development in context of culturally-educational museums activities. In order to solve the problem of research was used traditional complex of general scientific principles (determinism, reflection, unity of opposites) and methods (analysis and synthesis, systematic and structural, interrogation, content-analysis, observation, statistical). Results. This article presents the characteristic of concept “innovative management”. A special innovative management toolbox was found and it can also provide the background for some modernization in Ukrainian museum industry. Research results are confirmed by sociological survey based on theme “What would you like to see as a modern local history museum?”. Conclusions and discussions. Preservation of historical materials, popularization of knowledge, attraction wide circle of visitors – all these are the goals of any museum activity with the support of innovative management technologies. The use of innovative management has its nuances. Before starting work with innovative toolbox implementation, one should think through its strategy, clearly define the goals; identify the target audience; prepare the media content etc.

ЗАСТОСУВАННЯ ВИСТАВКОВИХ МАТЕРІАЛІВ КРАЄЗНАВЧОГО МУЗЕЮ В ОСВІТНЬОМУ ПРОЦЕСІ ШКОЛИ

The dynamic system «collaboration: school + museum» is represented in the article. The intersection ways of activity of two institutions as school and museum are analyzed. The principles and forms of work are clearly defined. It is concentrated on the five ways of activities which provide developing basic competencies of students by means using the exhibition materials of Local history museum in the educational school process. The examples of introduction of modern teaching means, projects, technologies that promote improvement of educational process, reflect the professional growth of teacher’s pedagogical skills are given in this article. The systemic work, motivation, practical orientation of each direction of activity, examples of school teachers’ experience deserves attention. In particular the improvement of interaction, communication in the direction of work which began under the influence of spreading the new trend in the museum work is noted as participation culture. Everyone who shares the philosophy of inclusion understands that a person cannot be separated from society because of special feature of development, physical, organizational barriers. It is useful the experience of mastering the modern information about effective project activities with children that have special educational needs, the cooperation with the Local history Museum, the creation of a positive emotional background, opportunities for harmonious coexistence of a «special» child in a social environment. It is demonstrably improved that cooperation with the History Museum widens and extends the intellectual and emotional experience of students, provides the principle of continuity in relationships of a school with a kindergarten. The tested materials of ecological direction can be used by teachers in terms of implementation the conception of the New Ukrainian School for the purpose of achieving mandatory learning outcomes by learners in a natural science education, implementation of educational principles of partnership, the creation of conductive conditions for the development and self-improvement of a competent personality, the education of a museum culture as an integral part for formation of the general culture of a person. Key words: dynamic system, museum work, participation culture, collaboration, basic competencies.

TUL Herbarium: collections of vascular plants of Tula Oblast, Russia.

BackgroundTUL Herbarium presents collections from Tula Oblast stored at the Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University, Russia, which is an educational and scientific institution that supports various types of scientific activities, including research on biodiversity and nature conservation. The university is a holder of some biological collections, such as herbarium of vascular plants, mosses and fungi collected mainly throughout Tula Oblast and from adjacent regions.New informationThe collections of vascular plants (9,000 specimens) were imaged in December 2019 and January 2020. Databasing and georeferencing of the specimens from the TUL Herbarium was performed by the staff members of the Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University and Tula Local History Museum. Digital collections of the TUL Herbarium are fully available in the Moscow Digital Herbarium (https://plant.depo.msu.ru/) and GBIF (https://doi.org/10.15468/ca08cm).

IMMERSIVE AUDIO EXPOSITION AND ITS VISUAL CONTENT AS ACTUALIZATION OF MUSEUM DESIGN PRINCIPLES

The article is devoted to the experimental practice of new local history and museum design, the study of collective identity, the actualization of “gene memory” and the representation of the Finno-Ugric ethnic group of the North of Udmurtia, Russia. The project continues to develop a long-term partnership of an inter-regional consortium consisting of specialists in the fi eld of cultural anthropology and authentic geography, local history, music and stage art, folklore, design, architecture and modern art practices, and the local community. The article deals with the study of the principles of organizing a traditional a local history museum, its tactile and spatial reconfi guration based on immersive interaction with the visitor, his active participation, polylogue, post-empathy and total involvement (psychophysiological “linkage” with reality). It covers a wide range of topics from technological to meta-immersion, creation spaces of holistic experience, space-event, space-situations, where the viewer becomes a key subject.

“Guest Workers” in Mining

Over the past five to six decades, oral history has become a complex and diverse tool, not only for uncovering and analysing individual and collective patterns of memory but also to inscribe them into public historical narratives. In the wake of the decline of the mining industry in the Ruhr region, local history workshops, academic historians, filmmakers, and museum practitioners began to construe miners and mining communities as historical subjects from the bottom up. Throughout this time, personal narrations played an increasingly important role as both a source of research and a tool for public historical representations. Using the case study of the Ruhr area, this article deals with the functions of public oral history narrations about the region’s mining past. It will particularly address the question of how the work and life stories of Turkish immigrant labourers, officially labelled as “guest workers”, have been represented in regional historical culture. To what extent did they become narrative agents in the Ruhr’s historiography, from a democratic and participatory “history from below” to an increasingly institutionalised approach in public history?

Shabti of Panefernefer From the Collection of Poltava Local History Museum

The author publishes an ancient Egyptian funeral shabti-statuette from the collection of the Vasyl Krychevskyi Poltava Local History Museum with inv. no. A.149/1 (blue faience, 9 × 3 × 2 cm). The shabti can be dated by the 21st Dynasty. The figurine was purchased in 1894 by P. Bobrovskyi in the Sales Hall of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities for the collection of the Natural Science Museum of the Poltava Regional Community. The hieroglyphic inscription is preserved on the front side of the shabti: «Enlightened, Osiris, the Chief of the archivists of the Treasury of the Temple of the Amun, Panefernefer, true-voiced». O. Berlev incorrectly read the name of the shabti owner no. A.149/1 as «Paneferher», but the reading as Panefernefer (PA-nfr-nfr) is correct. The owner of the shabti has a rare title «the Chief of the archivists of the Treasury of the Temple of the Amun». Besides Panefernefer, five more priests who wore this title are known. All of them lived during the 20th and 21st Dynasties and that fact indicates the functioning of this archive precisely at the time of these two dynasties. There is no data on the genealogy of Panefernefer. There is a number of analogies to the shabti no. A.149/1: Copenhagen A.A.b.98, A.A.11 (?), Florence 6594—6596, Ipswich R. 1932—26.20; London BM EA 8906, EA 22790, Birmingham inv. no. ECM 376, Amasis Collection, inv. no. S—2058. In addition to shabtis, other objects of Panefernefer funeral assemblage are also preserved: a roll of the Book of the Dead (Vienna AS 3860), a shabti-box (Avignon A.82), a sarcophagus model (Berlin AM 6747), and two planks of the box (Berlin AM 777 and 779). Moreover, the name Paneferenfer is found on sources not related to his funeral inventory. This is the letter of Panefernefer to the scribe Chari (pTurin 1979) and two references on the coffins of kings Amenhotep I and Thutmose II from the mummy cache at Deir el-Bahri (TT 320), which confirm that Panefernefer took part in the mission of reburying the royal remains. Monuments of Panefernefer kept a number of titles that provide additional prosopographic information, including his professional duties: «the divine father of the Amun», «the scribe of the double treasury of the temple of the Amun-Re, the king of the gods», «the head of the jewelry workshops of the temple of the Amun», «the head [///] Amun in Ipet-sut (Karnak temple)», «the scribe of the jewelry workshops of the temple of the Amun», «head of the works». Most of the artifacts of Panefernefer were acquired by European collectors in the 19th century. Some of them went to museum collections in the UK, Germany, Denmark and Ukraine, and some are in private collections. Poltava shabti no. A.149/1 is the only Panofernefer’s object in Eastern Europe.

Expert Role of Regional Museum for the Projects of Public Spaces Improvement

This article considers the experience of improving public spaces of one of the small towns in Sverdlovsk region – the city of Krasnoufimsk. The topic of urban improvement is a serious challenge for our country. When designing public areas, it is important to consider the features of the city, its history, uniqueness, opinion of the population. Several tasks can be solved through the improvement of the city: the development of a comfortable urban environment, attracting tourists and preserving the cultural heritage. The choice of certain landscaping projects in most cases requires historical and cultural examination. Cultural workers should also act as experts in the public space reconstruction project. This article reflects on a similar experience during the reconstruction project of the Ufa river embankment in the central district of Krasnoufimsk, when employees of the regional museum were invited to participate. The text presents examples of filling the space of the embankment with hidden meanings from the regional history. The authors are of the opinion that representatives of museum community in modern society are not only keepers of the past, but also creators of the future image of the city.
 Keywords: public spaces, urban landscaping, small town, cultural heritage, historical and cultural expertise, local history museum

Local museum, national history: curating Shanghai’s history in the context of a changing China (1994–2018)

ABSTRACT The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has traditionally exerted a profound influence over the historical narrative presented by museums located in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nevertheless, it has been argued that, since the market reforms of the 1990s, provincial and municipal museums have partially managed to eschew national narratives in favour of focusing on local history. This article examines how curatorial practices used to present the local history have changed since the 1990s by analysing three permanent exhibitions organised by the Shanghai History Museum (SHM), the oldest local history museum in China. These three exhibitions, which were opened in 1994, 2001 and 2018, adopted remarkably different approaches to the representation of Shanghai’s colonial past. This article shows how the approach taken by curators has fluctuated over the last thirty years to cater to the CCP’s contemporary political needs by analysing the politics and poetics of the SHM’s three exhibitions. Particular attention is paid to the resurgence of the national revolutionary narrative visible in the most recent exhibition.

Creating ‘Confederate pioneers’: a spatial narrative analysis of race, settler colonialism, and heritage tourism at the Museu da Imigração, Santa Bárbara d’Oeste, São Paulo

ABSTRACT Local history museums are important to heritage tourism, often presenting interconnected local, regional, national, and transnational histories. This article explores the settler colonial narrative presented at the Museu da Imigração (Museum of the Immigration), in Santa Bárbara d’Oeste, São Paulo, Brazil. Though much scholarship explores the relationship between the Confederacy and slavery in public memory and heritage tourism studies, the scale of discussion is typically limited to the US South. Less well known is the fact that several thousand Confederate soldiers and their families, rather than face Reconstruction, preferred to restart their lives in Brazil. Applying innovations in discourse analysis and studies of commemorative atmosphere, I analyze a local museum’s spatial narrative. I show how it weaves together a settler interpretation of the past through texts, photographs, and historical objects and artifacts – bringing together discourses like the Lost Cause and Brazil’s ‘racial democracy.’ Ultimately the museum constructs a settler colonial narrative that frames the Confederate migrants as brave ‘pioneers’ striking out to re-create their lives after the US Civil War. I conclude by placing the significance of the museum’s narrative into broader context, highlighting how some scholars have perpetuated this narrative in academic and public discourse.

Познание и отражение мировоззрения древнего человека в творчестве художника и палеометролога В. И. Жалковского

The article considers the life path and worldview of V. I. Zhalkovskii. He was an artist, paleometrologist and astroarchaeologist and for most part of his life worked at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the RAS (Novosibirsk). Zhalkovskii was the author of the initial design of the expositions of the Museum of the History and Culture of the Peoples of Siberia and Russian Far-East of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS, and of the design of the Shira’s local history Museum (Shira village, Khakassia); as well as the author of the design, illustrations, sketches of cave paintings to the books of A. P. Okladnikov and V. E. Larichev. At the first stage of his life, V. I. Zhalkovskii was a student and performer of drawings for archaeologists, at the second — their assistant and almost co-author, and at the third — an independent, original scientist and artist. The main scientific achievement of Zhalkovskii is the development of “paleometrology” — a method for metric deciphering of cave paintings, ancient plates and perforated batons. V. I. Zhalkovskii proceeded from the fact, that in terms of preliterate writing and prenumerical mathematics knowledges were fixed by means of “petroglyph writing”. And in order to understand the essence of the objects of ancient art, it is necessary to read it from the standpoint of paleometrology. The ancestor needed astronomy in order to predict, anticipate the future and harmonize the actions of the tribe with the cosmic world order.

НАУЧНОЕ НАСЛЕДИЕ ВЫДАЮЩИХСЯ УЧЕНЫХ НА ТЕРРИТОРИИ ЕВРОПЕЙСКОГО СЕВЕРО-ВОСТОКА РОССИИ: МЕМОРИАЛЬНЫЕ КАБИНЕТЫ И ПРОЕКТЫ

Some of the most promising means of preserving scientific heritage, accessibility of archives and popularization of science are memorial museums or projects memorializing the memory of outstanding scientists. In the European North-East of Russia immortalizations of heritage is carried with respect to interests of scientists - geological, biological and socio-economic sciences. Three stages of the formation of the scientific community in the region have been identified. The first stage is related to the initial research of scientists who visited the European North in the 18th – begining of 20th century. The preservation of scientific heritage was provided by the creation of the A.V. Zhuravsky museum in the Ust-Tsilm, and by creation of monuments and commemorative places. The next period in the study of the North began in the 1930s-early 1940s and involves the arrival of distinguished scientists to the region. After the work of the scientists a large volume of scientific heritage. The materials composed the basis of the museums-apartments and separate expositions in local history museums in Uhta and Vorkuta. Academic organizations were established in the European North of Russia in the mid-20th century. The memory of the outstanding achievements of scientists is perpetuated in the names of geological and geographical objects, streets and museums in the cities of the region. The preservation of the scientific heritage of the scientist of this period is connected with the activities of already existing museums or with the creation of memorial offices in the scientific and production organizations in Uhta, Vorkuta and Syktyvkar. The working interior of the scientist is reconstructed or preserved in the memorial rooms. Memorial projects are implemented in the existing museums and in the higher educational and academic institutions. Memorial exhibitions have a following structure: science – research – teaching – memoirs. The most convenient and accessible forms of preservation of the scientific heritage are separate museums-offices in the existing museums. The interior, objects and documents introduce the visitor of the museum to the interests, hobbies, and results of the work of the scientist. It gets acquainted with the historical period when a scientist lived and worked. The museum and science are linked by historical continuity and intergenerational culture. The regional memorial projects are aimed to identify regional scientific identity and ways of development of the scientific community. The main development of regional museums is connected with the establishing the new personalities of scientists, with adaptation in virtual space and creation of online exhibitions.

Research on local history and the museum as a tool to preserve heritage in a region with a broken economy: On the example of the Mama village in the Irkutsk region

The article is devoted to the history of museums and the modern development of local history work in one of the northernmost districts of the Irkutsk region. The article briefly describes the circumstances of the foundation of a mica mining enterprise on the banks of the Vitim and Mama rivers in the late 1920s as well as the history of production being stopped and the degradation of settlements in the post-Perestroika period. In 1965, a mineralogical museum was established in the Mama village. In 2003, it was converted into a local history museum. In recent decades, the functions of the modern museum have changed, but this has manifested itself in the work of a local history museum of the Mama village only in the form of concentrated pedagogical activities. Important functions for studying the heritage of the Soviet time, documenting the modern life of the district, working with society, in particular, with an older audience, were gradually taken over by a group of enthusiasts who founded the voluntary Mamskoe Historical and Local History Association (MICRO) in 2008. Over the past twelve years, the Association has organized about twenty museum and street exhibitions, published a number of monographs, stories about the residents of Mama, and published two photo albums. Photos have been published as well as archival documents, and oral histories of local elders, many of whom are descendants of repressed peasant families forcibly resettled here in the early 1930s. Participation in district and regional conferences on local history helps to influence the social situation and supports the proper level of cultural life of the region. The article touches on such modern museological concepts as “social inclusion”, “intangible cultural heritage” and “participatory practices”. The authors hope that in the future, experts will be able to discuss the possibilities of developing the tourism sector in this area.

ДОСВІД СТВОРЕННЯ НЕДЕРЖАВНОЇ МЕДИКО-ТЕХНОЛОГІЧНОЇ ТА ІСТОРИКОКРАЄЗНАВЧОЇ МУЗЕЙНОЇ КОЛЕКЦІЇ НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ САНАТОРІЮ «АВАНГАРД» М. НЕМИРІВ ВІННИЦЬКОЇ ОБЛАСТІ

Goal of the article consist in analyzing and systematizing of experience in creating a non-governmental medical-technological and local history museum collection on the territory of SE "Clinical Sanatorium "Avangard" located in Nemyriv city, Vinnytsia region. Method. The methodological basis of this study is a general scientific dialectical method. The main research methods are: the method of literary, illustrative, descriptive, analytical and scientific synthesis. Results. Local history, technical-technological, medical-rehabilitation and sanatorium-medical aspects of creation a non-governmental medical-technological and local history museum collection on the territory of SE "Clinical Sanatorium "Avangard" located in Nemyriv city, Vinnytsia region are revealed. The key preconditions for the appearance of the museum collection have been identified. The funds of the museum collection, the history of their collection and the modern exposition are described in detail. The key organizational, legislative, economic, employee and managerial problems of the museum collection's existence have been identified. Practical significance. The experience of creating a non-governmental medical-technological and local history museum collection on the territory of SE "Clinical Sanatorium "Avangard" located in Nemyriv city, Vinnytsia region can be used in the practice of other sanatoriums of Ukraine as well as can be used for further organization of non-governmental museum collections with medical-technological and local history profile. Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of this article consist in the attemption of the first comprehensive analysis in Ukraine of the advantages and disadvantages in organization of non-governmental museum collections in sanatoriums, rest homes and other medical and health facilities of general profile.

«Бескровная революция» 1920 г. в Архангельске

The article is based predominantly on sources of personal provenance (memoirs of participants and eyewitnesses of the events of 1920 in Arkhangelsk, stored in the "fonds of memoirs" from the State Archive of the Russian Federation, State Archive of the Arkhangelsk Region, Central State Archive of Historical and Political Documents of St. Petersburg, Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, Vologda Regional Archive of Contemporary Political History, Scientific Archive of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. and scientific archives of the local history museums in the Arkhangelsk region). These documents allow us to expand our understanding of the events that took place in Arkhangelsk in February 1920 and to supplement the information of other, synchronous, sources on this interesting fact of the Civil War: attempts to peacefully transfer power from the administration of the Northern Region (a quasi-state entity with its center in Arkhangelsk) to the command of the advancing Red Army through a “transitional government” formed from activists of local trade union organizations. The nature of the Civil War associated with ideological disorientation of the population manifested itself in the desire of certain groups (i.e., White soldiers who defected from the Red Army, workers who welcomed the change of power in 1918) to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of the Soviet authorities. It was reflected in their insistence on establishing of the “revolutionary order” in the city even before the arrival of the Red Army. When the prepared script was disrupted, the city plunged into anarchy for several days. This article is an attempt to reconstruct the events of February 1918 in Arkhangelsk in order to demonstrate the impact made by individuals driven by their own motivations, interests, and goals on the events of historical significance.

旧公衆衛生院（港区立郷土歴史館等複合施設「ゆかしの杜」）の改修工事

旧公衆衛生院（港区立郷土歴史館等複合施設「ゆかしの杜」）の改修工事

«Дети XXI века о детях войны»: об опыте реализации краевого конкурса исследовательских проектов

The publication is devoted to topical issues of Museum development in the Altai. The article describes the experience of implementing the project by the Altai State Local History Museum dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Victory in the great Patriotic war. The importance of using oral history research in the activities of museums is noted.

The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects by Brandon M. Schechter

Reviewed by: The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects by Brandon M. Schechter Kenneth Slepyan (bio) Brandon M. Schechter. The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II through Objects. xxiv + 315 pp. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019. ISBN 9781501739798. In her oral history of Soviet women in World War II, Svetlana Alexievich recounted the story of a woman partisan veteran who brought personal memorabilia for the local history museum to display, among the other usual objects of war. These possessions included a blouse and underwear made of parachute silk. The museum curators, however, rejected these clothes, chuckling "Whatever for? Who needs it? What's so heroic about it?"1 Brandon Schechter's The Stuff of Soldiers tells us why these seemingly ordinary things were indeed heroic, as well as much else about the daily lives of Red Army soldiers in the Second World War. This engagingly written history, based on archival sources such as the testimonies contained in the Commission on the History of the Great Patriotic War, and soldiers' memoirs, is a valuable addition to the post-Soviet historiography on the experiences of the Red Army, like Catherine Merridale's Ivan's War (2005) and Roger Reese's Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought (2011). It is not only a thick description of the Soviet military's material culture but it is also an analysis of the role played by objects in the transformation of wartime Soviet society and individuals. This study provides an innovative and unforgettable perspective on what the Great Patriotic War meant for the ordinary men and women who fought in the Red Army's ranks; it illuminates ways that the Soviet state used the war to transform its population, and was itself transformed by the war. The book's structure elegantly conveys its argument. The chapters first examine the bodies of civilian recruits and how they were transformed into supposedly standardized and modern soldiers, then clothing and equipping these bodies to fight a modern mechanized war, feeding, housing, and arming them. Final chapters look at the personal things soldiers carried, and the underlying cultural meanings and tensions behind the "liberation" (or plundering) of goods taken from foreign civilians as the Red Army stormed into the heart of Germany. The book covers too much terrain to address adequately in a short review, so I shall focus only on a few themes. A central theme of this study is the way in which soldiers imbued seemingly everyday objects with deep meaning. The simple unassuming spoon, for example, took on great significance for soldiers. It was one of the few objects in a soldier's kit that actually belonged to [End Page 173] the soldier, and recruits were told that they should bring a spoon from home (thus saving the army from having to supply it). Soldiers often decorated their spoons to remember loved ones, whether from home or in the unit, and after the war the spoons were handed down as family heirlooms. But the spoon's importance was, of course, also functional as it was the only eating utensil the soldier had, thus making it essential for nutrition. Hence while spoons lacked the "heroic qualities" museum curators associated with unit banners and weapons, to soldiers they were no less important as both a symbol and a critical piece of equipment. In another chapter, Schechter persuasively shows how the lowly spade was, "after their weapons, the most important item to [soldiers'] survival," as with them soldiers constructed "cities of earth" (trench systems and dugouts), enabling shelter and protection from enemy fire (120). Yet as Schechter convincingly demonstrates, objects also played their role in the larger Soviet project, namely the attempt to transform Soviet individuals and society itself into something modern, mechanized, and urban. Uniforms, for instance, converted individuals coming from different class, regional, and ethnic backgrounds into a standardized mass army. As most recruits came from a rural or peasant background, the easily produced Red Army uniform and equipment converted them into "modern" Soviet citizens, even as Schechter notes that much of the Red Army's equipment had a "peasant soul" (244...

Коллекция народных игрушек из собрания Карасукского краеведческого музея

This article presents an analysis of the collection of folk rag and clay toys collected by the local history museum Karasuk for 30 years. The purpose of this work is to identify the main stages in the formation of the museum’s toy collection and characterize its features.