The Museum and its directors
Autumn 1714 – Peter the Great ordered to move his private collections (including those acquired by him during his Great Embassy to Europe) and the Library from Moscow to the newly-built capital of the Russian Empire to lay the foundation of the first state public museum. The collections and the library were placed in Peter’s Summer Palace.
|1714-1718||“Supervision” over books and collections was entrusted to Peter’s Surgeon in Ordinary and President of the Pharmaceutical Department Robert Areskin. Johann Daniel Schumacher was invited from Germany and appointed his assistant.|
After Areskin’s death, the supervision over the collections was entrusted to Peter’s new Surgeon in Ordinary Lavrentii Blumentrost, who had exercised this function until 1725, when he became the first President of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
In 1718 I.D. Schumacher was ordered to “place in the Kunst Kamera for preservation the things brought from Holland, and currently stored under the curatorship of Archiater Dr. Areskin at the house of Alexander Kikin, near the Neva River, on the Moscow side, opposite Kantsy. After the reconstruction of Kikin’s house, the collections and the library were moved there in 1718 – early 1719, and the Kunstkamera was opened for the public: “Then His Majesty ordered Librarian Schumacher, who reports to Surgeon in Ordinary and the Chief Curator of the said Kunstkamera Areskin: Because everything has been established and arranged in due order, any person willing to visit it must be admitted and guided around, and things must be shown and explained to him”. Having opened the museum for the public, Peter is said to have declared, “I want people to look and learn”. At the same time, in 1718, the construction of a special building for the Kunstkamera began by Peter’s order on the site chosen by the Tsar himself.
On January 1st, 1724, L.L. Blumentrost signed with Johann Daniel Schumacher a contract concerning the management of the Library and the Kunstkamera. The latter was put in charge of the both institutions. His duties included keeping them in order and establishing catalogues, “in the library, for books, and in the kunst-kamora, for things housed there”.
November, 25, 1728 – ceremony marking the opening of the Library and the Kunstkamera. On the next day the newspaper “Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti” wrote: “Yesterday, the Imperial Library with the Kunst- and Naturalien-kamera were opened for the first time since they had been moved to the new academic chambers”. The admission days of the Library and the Kunstkamera were announced, and it was noted that admission was free.
On the night of December 6th, 1747, fire broke out in the building of the Kunstkamera. “Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti” wrote: “Last Saturday, after four o-clock in the morning, fire broke out in the chambers of the Imperial Library and Kunstkamera, and it soon spread so widely that it was in no way possible to save the chambers, especially when the fire had reached the tower and embraced it”. Objects and books were being thrown out of the windows into the snow. Thus it was possible to save most of the library and those museum exhibits which had been housed in the lower floors spared by fire. Of the collections housed on the upper floors, only the “Emperor’s cabinet” was saved. The observatory, the Gottorp Globe, many ethnographical collections including Chinese ones perished in the fire. The library, too, suffered considerable damage. The preserved books and items were immediately transported to the buildings closest to the Kunstkamera.
In the period from 1747 to 1766, the Academy took a number of measures to restore the lost collections. Lists of lost items were sent to provincial offices accompanied by a decree which required “to take pains to collect things according to the enclosed register”
“Supervision” over the Kunstkamera was commissioned to Councilor of the Academic Office, Academician Ivan Taubert.
1767 – After its rebuilding, the Kunstkamera was re-opened for the public.
|1767–1771||On August 9th, the Committee of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences resolved to entrust Academician Peter Simon Pallas with the supervision over the Kunstkamera’s collections (primarily zoological ones). His assistants were Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (botanic collections), Caspar Friedrich Wolf (anatomical collections), and Osip Petrov (models, instruments, clothes, and ethnographical collections).|
|1771–1797||On May 13, 1771, Professor (later Academician) Semen Kotel’nikov was appointed the new Supervisor of the Kunstkamera (as well as of the Library and the Mineralogical Cabinet).|
|1797–1800||On March 6th, 1797, adjunct of the Academy Ivan Busse was appointed Acting Supervisor of the Kunstkamera.|
On March 26th, 1800, Academician Nikolai Ozeretskovskiiwas appointed as Supervisor of the Kunstkamera. He was the last director of the united Academic Museum (Kunstkamera). His assistant at the Museum was Osip Belyaev, who worked at the Kunstkamera and the Library from 1783 on, first as translator, from 1789 on as an assistant, from 1790 and until his death in 1807, as a librarian. In 1793 Belyaev published a catalogue and a guide to the Emperor’s cabinet
In the early 1800s, the Kunstkamera was divided into several independent museums. The main reasons underlying the restructuring were the change in the nature of the Academy’s activities and the focus on scientific knowledge. Vast materials that had accumulated in the Kunstkamera by that time required more space for display and storage. The study of the collections resulted in further differentiation inside the departments and in an increase in qualified staff. On Jabuary 8th, 1836, the Academy of Sciences presented to the State Council its new Statute and comments on the changes made in the previous Statute (1803). On March 11th, 1836, the State Council endorsed the Statute of the Imperial St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences. It listed the institutions and museums within the Academy: Cabinet of Peter the Great, the Library, the Major and the Minor Astronomical and Magnetic Observatories, the Physical Cabinet, the Instrumental Workshop, the Chemical Laboratory, the Mineralogical, Botanical and Zoological museums, the Anatomical Cabinet, the Botanical Garden, the Numismatic Cabinet, the Collections of Asian and Egyptian Antiques, and the Ethnographic Cabinet.
On May 7th, 1837, the Session of the Academy of Sciences entrusted its Honorary Member Alexander Postels with the supervision over the items of the Ethnographic cabinet.
|1837–1842||Academician Petr Zagorskii headed the Anatomical Cabinet.|
|1842–1862||The Anatomical Cabinet (museum) and the Ethnographic Museum of the Russian Geographical Society were directed by Academician Karl von Baer.|
|1845 – 1855|
On January 17th, 1845, Academician Andrei Sj50102gren was appointed Director of the Ethnographic Museum and bore the office until his death in 1855.
|1855 – 1856||On March 22, Academician Boris Dorn was appointed Director of the Ethnographic Museum; on November 14th, 1856, Dorn’s petition for resignation was granted, and A.A. Schiefner was appointed his successor.|
On November 14th, 1856, Academician Anton Schiefner was appointed Director of the Ethnographic Museum and held this office until December 19th, 1878.
In 1869, Academicians Baer and Schiefner put forward a proposal to merge the Ethnographic and Anatomical museums (in which anthropology had become one of the priorities under Baer) into a comprehensive museum that would integrate all data on the origin of man and culture using the evidence of three sciences: physical anthropology, archaeology and ethnology. On December 5th, 1878, the Section of Physics and Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences, and later the State Council (on November 10th, 1879) resolved to “establish instead of the Anatomical Museum existing within the Academy of Sciences … and based on its collections as well as those of the Ethnographic museum, the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, mostly Russian”.
On November 10th, 1879, Academician Leopold Schrenkwas appointed Director of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, mostly Russian.
In 1887, the Museum was finally provided with comparatively spacious exhibition premises in a wing attached to the Kunstkamera in Tamozhennyi pereulok. On September 23rd, 1889, the first exposition of the united Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was opened.
On March 16th, 1894, Academician Vassilii Radlov was elected Director of the MAE.
In view of the emergence of the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum in St.-Petersburg (later it became a separate Russian Ethnographic Museum), the Academy of Sciences in 1903 ceased to use the words “mostly Russian” with reference to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. During the celebration of the bicentenary of St.-Petersburg in May 1903, the Museum, which inherited most collections belonging to Peter’s favorite creation – St.-Petersburg Kunstkamera, was named after him. It was decided to reconstruct within it a memorial exposition dedicated to Peter I. It was also decided to establish within the Kunstkamera a memorial museum housing all the preserved objects related to Peter. The opening ceremony of Peter’s Gallery was held on May 20th, 1912.
|1918-1921||On October 23rd, 1918, Academician Vassilii Bartoldwas elected Director of MAE. He held this office until September 2nd, 1921.|
On November 2nd, 1921, Academician Evfimii Karskii was elected Director of MAE. He stayed in office until September 2nd, 1930.
On February 2nd, 1933, the General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences of USSR endorsed the resolution of the Section of Humanities merging the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography with the Institute for the Study of the Peoples of USSR into a single Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of USSR. Within the new institute, several sections were formed (ethnographic, archaeological, anthropological, and folkloristic).
|1930–3319||On October 12th, 1930, Professor Nikolai Matorin was elected Director of MAE. After the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography was founded in 1933, Matorin remained its Director. On December 23rd, 1933, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of USSR resolved to dismiss N.M. Matorin from this position as of January 1st, 1934, retaining his position as Senior Specialist. |
On January 1st, 1934, Academician Ivan Meshchaninov was appointed Director of the Institute, and remained in office until the transformation of the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography into the Institute of Ethnography in 1937.
On January 25th, 1935, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of USSR resolved to transform the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography into the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography. The decision was endorsed by the General Meeting of the Academy on November 20th, 1935.
On February 11th, 1937, it was decided to change the structure of the Institute and replace sections by several departments (“cabinets”) within the research part of the Institute: that of Europe and Caucasus, headed by D.K. Zelenin; that of Siberia and Western Central Asia, headed by Ya.P. Koshkin; that of East and South Asia, headed by N.V. K50108hner;that of Africa, America, Australia and Oceania, headed ad interim by I.N. Vinnikov; that of Archaeology, headed by P.P. Efimenko; that of Folklore, headed by M.K. Azadovskii (this department included the archives of audio recordings headed by E.V. Hippius); and that of the History of Religion, headed by Yu.P. Frantsev). A separate part of the institute was the Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography consisting of several departments (that of Europe, Caucasus and Western Central Asia, headed by N.A. Kislyakov; that of Siberia, headed by V.N. Chernetsov; that of India, Indonesia, and the Far East, headed by N.V. K50108hner; that of the Early Stage of the Primeval Society, Australia and Oceania, headed by I.N. Vinnikov; that of North, Central and South America, headed by S.A. Sternberg; that of Africa, headed by D.A. Olderogge; that of Archaeology, headed by S.N. Zamyatnin; and that of Physical Anthropology, headed by B.N. Vishnevskii). Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge was appointed Director of the Museum.
On August 5th, 1937, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences resolved to transform the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography into the Institute of Ethnography including Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. On December 17th, the General Meeting of the Academy approved this decision.
|1937 – 1943||The position of the Director of Museum as a department of Institute of Ethnography was filled by Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge. |
|1937–1940||Academician Vassilii Struve was appointed Director of the Institute of Ethnography AS USSR by the decision of the Presidium AS USSR and filled this position until 1940.|
Director of the Institute of Ethnography was Professor Isaak Vinnikov.
1943 –Institute of Ethnography Moscow branch was constituted, and became the main one. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences Sergei Pavlovich Tolstov was appointed Director of the Institute of Ethnography (Moscow).
|1945-1948||Deputy Directors of the Institute of Ethnography heading the Leningrad Branch were Professor Arkadii Anisimov and Professor Nikolai Stepanov. Director of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was Nikolai Kislyakov.|
|1948-1967||On March 20th, 1948, Leonid Potapov, D.Sc., was appointed Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnography and Head of the Leningrad branch. The detached position of Director of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was abrogated. In 1967 Potapov was dismissed from the position of Deputy Director (Head of the Leningrad branch of the Institute).|
The Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of USSR resolved to establish the Leningrad part of the Institute of Ethnography.
On December 26th, 1967, Lyudmila Saburova, Cand. Sc. (History), was appointed Deputy Director of the Institute and Head of the Leningrad branch. On July 14th, 1982, she was dismissed from her position
|1982–1990||On July 24th, 1982, Professor Rudolf Its, D.Sc., was appointed Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnography and Head of the Leningrad branch. He remained in office until his death (July 11th, 1990). |
The Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnography and Head of its Leningrad branch ad interim, and, from July 1991, Director of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kusntkamera) was Nikolai Girenko, Cand. Sc.
On June 25th, 1991, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences resolved to transform the Institute of Ethnography into the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. The Leningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnography was turned into the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology with Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography as its part.
By the Presidential Decrees nos.294 of December 18th, 1991 (On the Most Valuable Monuments of Russia’s National Heritage) and 1487 of November30th, 1992 (On the Most Valuable Monuments of the Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation) Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography was listed among such monuments.
On June 14th, 1992, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences resolved to transform St.-Petersburg branch of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology into Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera).
|1992-1997||On February 20th, 1992, Professor Alexander Myl’nikov, D.Sc., was appointed Director of St.-Petersburg branch of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. On December 21st, 1992, Myl’nikov was elected Director of MAE at the General Meeting of the Section of History of the Academy. On October 24th, 1994, he was confirmed in office by the Governmental decree. On October 28th, 1997, Myl’nikov resigned from his post.|
|1997-2001||On May 12th, 1998, Chuner Taksami, D.Sc., was elected Director of MAE for a three-year term by the General Meeting of the Section of History of the Academy. On October 25th, 1998, he was confirmed in office by the Governmental decree.|
|2001– ||On November 15th, 2001 Yuri Chistov, D.Sc., was elected Director of MAE for a five-year term by the General Meeting of the Section of History of the Academy. On April 29th, 2002, he was confirmed in office by the Governmental decree. |
ARESKIN Robert [Karlovich] (1677–04.01.1719) – Son of a Scottish lord, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University, then worked as an assistant surgeon for six years. He continued his studies in Paris and Utrecht, where in 1700 he took his doctor’s degree in Medicine after defending a dissertation, whose title, translated from Latin, was “On the Rational Disposition of Organs of the Human Body”. Later he took his Ph.D. degree at Oxford University (in official papers, Peter referred to Areskin as “a noble doctor of philosophy and medicine”). In 1703, Areskin became member of the Royal Society of London. Shortly afterwards he moved to Russia and became a private doctor first of A.D. Men’shikov and three years later, of Peter I. In 1714 he received the title of Surgeon in Ordinary to the Tsar, and in 1716, became “Archiater” (Head of Pharmaceutical Department), President of the Medical Faculty of Russia, and Acting State Councillor. It was he whom Peter I commissioned to transport his private library and collections from Moscow to St.-Petersburg and organize a public museum. As Surgeon in Ordinary, Areskin accompanied the Tsar during his travel to Germany, Holland and France in 1717. Unfortunately, Areskin’s portrait has not been preserved at the archives, but his ex-libris with an expressive motto IE PENSE PLUS (I think more <than I say>) is still there
BLUMENTROST Lavrentii [Lavrent’evich] (29.10.1692 – 27.03.1755) – younger son of Lavrentii Alferovich Blumentrost, Surgeon in Ordinary to Tsar Aleskei Mikhailovich and then to his son Peter I. The first President and organizer of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He studied at Pastor Gluck’s school in Moscow, then attended lectures at Halle, Oxford, and Leiden. His doctoral dissertation was titled “De Secretione Animali” (1713). In 1715 he was commissioned to describe the Tsar’s illness, which he had to announce personally to the famous doctors in Europe. While fulfilling this task, Blumentrost visited Amsterdam in 1717 and carried out negotiations with F. Ruysch concerning the acquisition for Russia of the latter’s Europe-famous anatomical cabinet. Under his control, Ryusch’s collections were brought to St.-Petersburg in 1718. After Areskin’s death, Blumentrost took over the position of Surgeon in Ordinary to the Tsar, and was entrusted with the management of the Kunstkamera and the Library. In 1724 Peter I approved the project to establish the Academy of Sciences, drawn out by Blumentrost together with Schumacher. On December 3rd, 1725, Catherine I issued the decree “On the Establishment of the Academy of Sciences and the Appointment of its President, Surgeon in Ordinary L.L. Blumentrost” . Under Peter II, while living in Moscow, Blumentrost ceased to run the Academy.
SCHUMACHER Johann Daniel [Ivan Danilovich] (1690–1761) – Born in Colmar, Alsace, he graduated from Strasburg University. In 1714 he was invited to St.-Petersburg by Lefort and Areskin and appointed Secretary of the Medical Office and Librarian of St.-Petersburg Library, which later became part of the Library of the Academy of Sciences. In 1721 Peter the Great sent him to France, Holland, and England, where he had to “seek to invite various scientists to Russia”, get familiar with European kunstkameras, acquire new books for the library and new exhibits for the museum. L. Blumentrost, the first President of the newly-founded Academy of Sciences appointed Schumacher Secretary of the Academy and entrusted him with the control over the library and the Kunstkamera. Also, he was commissioned to set up a printing house and other establishments for arts and crafts. Baron Korf, who succeeded Blumentrost as President of the Academy of Sciences in 1734, appointed Schumacher Councilor and Treasurer of the Academy. Through Schumacher’s efforts, several books were printed, imcluding “Chambers of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Library, and the Kunstkamera” (SPb., 1741); “Musei Imperialis Petropolitani” (Vols. 1-2. SPb. 1741–45). Under his office, in 1742-47, the first detailed catalogue of books owned by the Academic Library was published. Unfortunately, no portraits of J. Schumacher have been preserved.
TAUBERT Johann Caspar [Ivan Ivanovich] (31.08.1717 – 09.05.1771) – Librarian and Councilor of the Office of the Academy of Sciences. Later, in the 1750s – 60s he was one of the directors of the Academic Office. Together with G.F. Miller he was responsible for the Academic editions, including the journal “Monthly essays”. Adjunct in history from 1738.
PALLAS Peter-Simon (22.09.1741–08.09.1811) – a famous traveler and naturalist, born in Berlin. Defended his doctoral dissertation in 1760, then reorganized the collections of naturalia in Leiden and visited England to study botanic and zoological collections. He was invited to St.-Petersburg by Catherine I as Adjunct of the Academy of Sciences. At her order he traveled to the Caucasus and the Trans-Caspian region (1768-74). The results of his expedition were published in several books, the collections acquired by him formed the basis of the Kunstkamera’s collections, and some of them came to Berlin University. In 1793–94 he studied climates of southern Russia. In 1810 he returned to Berlin, where he died. He published over 170 works addressing ethnology, archaeology, philology, geography, zoology, botany, paleontology, mineralogy, geology, topography, and medicine. In mid-1767, he became Professor of Natural History.
KOTEL’NIKOV Semen [Simeon] Kirillovich (01.07.1723 – 30.03.1806) – Mathematician, astronomer, student of L. Euler. Adjunct of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences in mathematics (1751), Associate Professor of higher mathematics (1756), then full Professor (1760), Honorary Member of the Academy (1797). Supervisor of the Kunstkamera and the Mineralogical Cabinet in 1771-97.
BUSSE Johann Heinrich [Ivan Fomich] (14.09.1763–20.07.1835) – Librarian (1794), Adjunct for the History of the Academy of Sciences (1795). Honorary member of the Academy of Sciences (1800).
OZERETSKOVSKII Nikolai Jakovlevich (01.07.1750–28.02.1827) – Naturalist, medical doctor, and traveler, he studied at the seminary of Troitse- Sergieva laura; in 1768 among the best seminarists he was sent to the academic gymnasium, in the same year he was assigned to the expedition led by Academician Lepekhin, who often commissioned Ozeretskovskii with independent researches (he studied Kol’skii uyezd of the Archangelsk province). To complete his education, he was sent to Leiden university. He took his doctor’s degree in medicine at Strasburg. After his return to St.-Petersburg, Ozeretskovskii was appointed Adjunct for Natural History and assistant to Academician G50108ldenstedt, and in 1782 he was elected Member of the Academy in Ordinary. Especially relevant for science were Ozeretskovskii’s travels (in 1782, across Russia, in 1785, to the Ladoga and Onega Lakes, in 1805, along the upper Volga, etc.). He published the results of these expeditions in a number of books.
POSTELS Alexander Filippovich (24.08.1801–28.06.1871) – Mineralogist, natural scientist, traveler. Having taken his candidate degree at St.-Petersburg University, he was left there to “perform the master’s functions”. In 1826 he lectured in nonorganic chemistry. In the same year, as a mineralogist and drawer, he launched out on a circumnavigation on sloop-of-war “Senyavin” commanded by F.P. L50108tke. He returned in 1829. Among the crew members were famous seafarers such as Lieutenant Nikolai Zavalishin and military cadet Pavel Krusenstern. Postels was the first scholar from St.-Petersburg University to take part in a large-scale scientific expedition. The trip resulted in an acquisition of precious collections of mammals, insects, birds, plants, and minerals. All collections were provided with albums with drawings. The Academy of Sciences appreciated the published work and deemed it deserving the Full Demidov award. Soon after the end of the circumnavigation (1831) Postels was appointed adjunct-professor of the Department of Mineralogy and Geognosy of St.-Petersburg University. At the same time he was invited to the Academy of Sciences to act as curator of the Mineralogical Museum. Later he was also appointed the curator of the Ethnographic Cabinet. From January 14th, 1866, he was Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences. He taught natural sciences to Great Duchesses Maria and Ekaterina, daughters of Nicholas’s I brother Mikhail, and was the tutor of Prince Petr Grigorievich Oldenburgskii’s children.
ZAGORSKII Petr Andreevich (09.09.1764–20.03.1846) – Professor of St.-Petersburg Medical and Surgical Academy Department of Anatomy and Physiology. Adjunct of the Academy of Sciences for anatomy and physiology (1805), extraordinary member of the Academy (1807), ordinary member (1807), honorary member of the Department of Russian Language and Literature (1841). He graduated from the Medical-Surgical College of St.-Petersburg Main Hospital. In 1803–06 he was head of the council, and then rector of the Medical and Surgical Academy; after its restructuring he was appointed member of the Academy, and headed the Department of Anatomy until 1833.
BAER Karl Ernst [Karl Maximovich] (17.02.1792-16.11.1876) – an outstanding biologist, embryologist, and anthropologist. Foreign member of the Academy of Sciences (1826), ordinary member of the Academy in Zoology (1828), Honorary Foreign Member of the Academy (1830), re-appointed Ordinary Member (1834) and Honorary Member (1862). He graduated from the Medical Faculty of Derpt (now Tartu) University, and continued his education at the universities of Germany and Austria. From 1817 he lectured at K50102nigsberg University, and in 1826 became Professor and Director of the Anatomical Institute founded by him. At that time he wrote a number of works which laid the foundation for modern comparative embryology. In 1834 he went to St.-Petersburg where he acted as Professor at the Medical and Surgical Academy, and from 1842 as Head of the Anatomical Cabinet. He collected important cranial materials on the peoples of Russia and other countries, played important role in establishing of Imperial Geographical society of Russia, established and headed the Ethnographic Museum of the Imperial Geographical Society. Based on his cranial collections Baer founded a museum of comparative anthropology, in which human crania were displayed according to the geographical principle. He was interested not only in the anatomy of modern peoples, but also in ancient materials from archaeological excavations, and in the origins of various peoples. Baer was the initiator of the First International Congress of Anthropologists in Goettingen in 1861, which led to the foundation of the German Anthropological Society and the publication of the journal “Archiv f50108r Anthropologie”. In 1862 he retired, but continued to work as an Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences until 1867, after which he returned to Derpt, where he died in 1876.
Sj50102gren Johann Andreas [Andrei Mikhailovich] (26.04.1794–06.01.1855) – Philologist, historian, ethnographer, and traveler. He studied history, archaeology, ethnography, and Finno-Ugric and Caucasian languages. He authored the first Ossetic grammar and a Livonian dictionary. He graduated from Еbo (Turku) University. In 1819 he took the Ph.D. degree, and in 1820 he moved to St.-Petersburg. Corresponding Member of the Academy (1827), adjunct for history (1829), extraordinary member in Russian history and antiquities (1831). He studied Russian language and history, and collected data on the Chud’ (Finnish tribes living in Russia). In 1823 Count N.P. Rumyantsev appointed him his private librarian, and in the same year Sj50102gren undertook a research travel across the Novgorod and Olonets provinces. Having received a grant for the research of Finnish-speaking populations, he traveled across Novgorod, Olonets, Vyborg, Kuopio, and Uleaborg Provinces, and the Finnish Lappland up to Norway and Waranger-fjord, as well as across the Russian Lappland and Mezen’. In 1826 he visited the Vologda, Kazan’ and Perm’ Provinces. Materials collected by him concern history, geography, ethnology, archaeology, linguistics, climatology, etc. In 1835 he went to the Caucasus where he engaged in the study of the Ossetic and Georgian languages, at the same time collecting ethnographic data on Caucasian peoples. In 1844 he was elected full member of the Academy in philology and ethnology of Finnish and Caucasian tribes, and in the following year he was appointed Director of the Ethnographic Museum of the Academy of Sciences.
DORN Johann Albrecht Bernhard [Boris Andreevich] (11.05.1805–19.05.1881) – Orientalist, specialist in cultural history of the Middle East, primarily that of Afghanistan. Dorn was among the first European scholars to study Afghan (Pushtu) language and history based on written sources, and the first Russian scholar to study Ethiopian literature. He was Private Senior Lecturer at Leipzig University, Head of the Department of Oriental Languages at Khar’kov University, and Professor of history and geography at the Foreign Ministry Institute of Oriental Languages. He taught Sanskrit and Pashto at St.-Petersburg University. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences (1835), Adjunct for Oriental Languages (1839), Extraordinary Member of the Academy in History and Philology (1852), Director of the Asian Museum (1842), Director of the Ethnographic Museum (1855).
SCHIEFNER Franz Anton [Anton Antonovich] (06.07.1817–04.11.1879) – One of the outstanding Russian Orientalists, a specialist in Tibet and Mongolia, and in Finno-Ugric languages. Adjunct of the Historical and Philological section in the Tibetan language (1852), Extraordinary Member of the Academy (1854). He was educated at St.-Petersburg University (1836-40), and studied philology and Oriental languages in Berlin for 6 years. He authored numerous works addressing Caucasian, Finno-Ugric, and Tibetan languages and literatures. Also, he published a number of works concerned with languages such as Tat (1856), Abkhazian (1862), Chechen (1864) and Kazikumukh (1866), as well as a collection of Khakassian legends (1859). He translated the Finnish epic “Kalevala” into German (1852).
CHRENK Leopold Ivanovich (24.04.1826–08.01.1894) – naturalist, ethnographer, traveler, zoologist, and geographer. Adjunct for physical and mathematical sciences (zoology) from 1862, Extraordinary Member of the Academy (1865). He took his master’s degree in zoology at Derpt (Tartu) University in 1850, and his doctor’s degree at the Preussian Albertian Academy (Berlin and K50102nigsberg). Participated in the circumnavigation on the frigate “Aurora”. Then, in 1854–56, he headed an expedition on the schooner “Vostok” to the Amur region, Sakhalin and Far East region where he studied the Nivkhs (Gilyaks) and other peoples. The materials of the expedition were published in four volumes in German and in three volumes in Russian. He was the first to compile the dictionaries of native languages (Nivkh, Ainu, and Ulchi). Schrenk introduced the term “paleo-Asiatic peoples”, referring to the earliest populations of Northeast Asia). Results of his research on the Amur were marked with the highest award of the Geographical Society – Konstantin medal. Various species of Far Eastern animals and plants are named after Schrenk (Schrenk’s sturgeon, Schrenk’s racer, etc.). A mountain range on Sakhalin and a mountain peak in the Western Sakhalin mountains bear his name.
RADLOV Friedrih Wilhelm [Vassilii Vassilievich] (17.01.1837–12.05.1918) – an outstanding Orientalist, specialist in Turkic languages, and ethnologist. Initiator of comparative studies into Turkic languages. Several Radlov’s works focussed on ethnic history, classification and historical dialectology of Turkic languages. Member in Ordinary of the Historical and Philological Section of the Academy of Sciences in history and antiquities of Asian peoples (November 7th, 1884). Born in Berlin in 1837, he arrived in St.-Petersburg in 1858 to work at the Asian Museum. With a view to study Turkic languages, he became a teacher in Barnaul, from where he visited native tribes to study their languages and collect their folk poetry. In this way he traveled all across the Altai, the steppes of Eastern Turkestan, parts of the Yenisei and Tobol’sk provinces, and visited Tashkent, Khodjent, Djizak, Samarkand, and Mongolia. In 1871, Radlov settled in Kazan’, where until 1884 he held the office of a district inspector of Muslim schools, studying Turkic dialects (Volga and Bashkirian), as well as the Chuvash and Cheremis (Mari) languages. In 1891 he headed the expedition set up by the Imperial Academy of Sciences to study the ancient sites of the Orkhon valley, Mongolia, and in 1898 he organized the Turfan expedition to Central Asia led by D.A. Klementz. He was the first to read old Turkic Orkhono-Yenisei inscriptions and he began to study and publish old Uighur monuments discovered by Klementz. In 1885-90 he was Director of the Asian Museum of the Academy of Sciences, and in 1894-1918, Director of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. He was one of the initiators and Chairman of the Russian Committee for the Study of Central and East Asia (1903-18), Head of the Society for the Study of Siberia and for the Improvement of Living Standards of its indigenous populations.
BARTOLD Vassilii Vladimirovich (15.11.1869–19.08.1930) – A prominent Orientalist. Specialist in cultural history of the Near and Middle East, he authored many publications focusing on the history of Western Central Asia, Iran, the Arabic Caliphate, Islam and the history of Oriental studies, and supervised excavations near Samarkand. He graduated from the Department of Oriental Languages of St.-Petersburg University. In 1900 he took the doctor’s degree in history of the Orient (Turkestan During the Mongolian Conquest); in 1910 he became Professor at St-.Petersburg University. Corresponding Member of the Historical and Philological Section of the Academy of Sciences in Oriental literature (1910); Member in Ordinary of the Historical and Philological Section of the Academy of Sciences in literature and history of Asian peoples from 1913.
KARSKII Evfimii Fedorovich (01.01.1861–29.04.1931) – Founder of Belorussian linguistics and philology, ethnologist, paleographer, and folklorist. His works deal with Russian dialectology, the Belorussian language and literature, old Belorussian system of writing, and Slavonic paleography. He was Professor at Warsaw University. From 1916 he was Member of St.-Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and from 1917, Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
MATORIN Nikolai Mikhailovich (1898–1936) – ethnographer, folklorist. Lecturer at the Geographic Institute from 1924, Associate Professor at the Ethnographic Department of the Geographical Institute (1928), Professor (1930), leading specialist in religious studies. In 1930 he became Deputy Chairman of the Committee for the Study of Ethnic Composition of USSR. Director of MAE (1930-33), Director of the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography (from February 1933). In 1930-33 he was among the founders of the Museum of the History of Religion. He was arrested in 1935 and shot in 1936.
MESHCHANINOV Ivan Ivanovich (24.11.1883–16.01.1967) - Philologist, archaeologist, and ethnologist. Specialist in ancient languages of the Near East. Having graduated from the Faculty of Law of St.-Petersburg University in 1907, he spent two semesters at Heidelberg University. At the same time he studied at the Archaeological Institute in St.-Petersburg from which he graduated in 1910. In 1910-23 he headed the historical archives of the Archaeological Institute; described the collection of Elamite antiquities owned by this institute. In 1925-33 he participated in, and headed, archaeological expeditions to the Northern Pontic region and Transcaucasia. Member of the Section of Social Sciences of the Academy (Caucasian studies) from March 29th, 1932. He studied Elamite, Hittite, Urartian, and Semitic languages. In 1934-37 he was Director of the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography. After the death of N.Ja. Marr, Meshchaninov succeeded him as Director of the Institute of Language and Mind (1935-50). After Stalin’s criticism of Marr’s ideas in 1950, he was dismissed from all leading positions, but continued his scholarly activities.
OLDEROGGE Dmitrii Alekseevich (06.05.1903–30.04.1987) – one of the initiators and leading authorities of Russian African studies, specialist in ethnology, history, languages and cultures of Africa. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences from June 10th, 1960. He graduated from Leningrad University (1925). In 1927–28 he studied languages, ethnology and museology in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Head of the Department of African Ethnography at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. In 1937-43, Director of MAE. Lecturer (1939), Professor and Head (1945) of the Department of African Studies of Leningrad University, Head of the Sector of Africa of the Institute of Ethnography (1947). His principal publications concern social organization, systems of kinship, cultures and languages of Africa. He was a member of numerous international societies, including the French Society of Africanists and the International African Institute. Corresponding Member of the School of Oriental and African Languages (London) and of many academies.
STRUVE Vassilii Vassilievich (02.02.1889–15.09.1965) – Orientalist, specialist in Egypt, historian. Не studied at St.-Petersburg University, where his teachers were famous historians A.S. Lappo-Danilevskii, B.A. Turaev, and M.I. Rostovtsev. Assistant Professor (1916), Professor (1920) of the University. Member of the Academy of Sciences, Section of Public Sciences (Oriental studies) from 1935. At the same time he worked at the Department of Ancient Egypt of the Hermitage, in 1937–40 he was Director of the Institute of Ethnography, in 1941–50, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies. Struve’s lines were numerous and not restricted to ancient Egypt. He studied Mesopotamia, especially the earliest (Shumerian) period of its history, the Hittite State, Syria, Palestine, and Phoenicia. He was the first Russian scholar to conduct a detailed study of ancient Near Eastern societies, which was the subject of his numerous studies and textbooks. Struve addressed other ancient civilization centers as well. When the Institute staff began preparing for publication the complete body of Greek inscriptions related to the Bosporan Kingdom that had existed in the northern Pontic region, he headed a large team of researchers involved in this project. Also, he authored a study focussing on the history of the Northern Pontic area, the Caucasus and Western Central Asia.
VINNIKOV Isaak Natanovich (1897–1973) – D.Sc. (Philology), Professor of Leningrad University Oriental Department. Specialist in philology and history of Semitic peoples.
KISLYAKOV Nikolai Andreevich (1901–1973) – D.Sc. (History), ethnologist and specialist in cultures of the Near and Middle East and Western Central Asia (primarily Persian and Tajik).
POTAPOV Leonid Pavlovich (1905–2000) – D.Sc. (History), Professor. A prominent specialist in Siberian ethnology.
SABUROVA Lyudmila Mikhailovna (1921–1998) – Cand. Sc. Specialist in Russian, mostly Siberian, ethnology.
ITS Rudolf Ferdinandovich (1928-90) – D.Sc., Professor. Founder and head of Leningrad State University Department of Ethnography and Anthropology. Staff member and, from 1982 Deputy Director of the Institute of Ethnography and Head of the Leningrad branch. Ethnologist and anthropologist, specialist in cultures of East and Southeast Asia, Siberia, the Far East, and in ethnological theory.
GIRENKO Nikolai Mikhailovich (31.10.1940–19.06.2004) – Africanist, specialist in ethnological theory, and expert in inter-ethnic relations in Russia. In 1990-93 he was elected Delegate of Leningrad (St.-Petersburg) Council, where he acted in the Committee for Inter-Ethnic Relations. He headed the Group for the Protection of Rights of the Ethnic Minorities at St.-Petersburg Union of Scientists, was an acknowledged expert at trials for the instigation of ethnic intolerance, and played a key role in elaborating the methodology of expert advices at such lawsuits. On July 19th, 2004, he was killed by hired assassins.
MYL’NIKOV Alexander Sergeevich (1929–2003) – D.Sc., Specialist in European cultural history, mainly Western Slavonic and Scandinavian. In 1952-73 he worked as a Bibliographer, Chief Bibliographer, then Head of the Department of Manuscripts of the M.E. Saltykov-Schedrin Public Library. Senior researcher (1973), Head of the Department of General Ethnography and European Studies, Director (1992) of St.-Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology, later Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) RAS.
TAKSAMI Chuner Mikhailovich (born in 1931) – D.Sc., Specialist in cultures of Siberia and the Far East.