ABOUT CHUVASH COLLECTIONS OF PROFESSOR I.N. SMIRNOV IN THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
Authors: Leontiev Alexey P. 
Published: December 2024

I.N. Smirnov’s outstanding contribution to the collection of cultural, household and religious faiths items of the Chuvash people was not subjected to in-depth analysis, nor yet covered by professional researchers. Meanwhile, in the history of collecting Chuvash ethnographic collections in the pre-revolutionary period, there was no figure equal to Ivan Nikolaevich. He was at the origin of forming the funds of the ethnographic department of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III. In the year of its opening, he donated a rich «Chuvash collection» to the museum – 92 items, mostly antique embroidery.

The purpose of the study is to trace the stages of I.N. Smirnov’s selfless work in the field of collecting ethnographic objects, including photo illustrations from the Chuvash everyday life.

Materials and methods. The research was based on newly identified documents stored in the archive of the Russian Museum of Ethnography and the Scientific Archive of the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities, as well as published materials. The principles of historicism, objectivity and consistency were used, as well as research methods: factual, descriptive, analytical, problem-chronological ones were used.

Study results. Among numerous works on research and collecting activities of Professor I.N. Smirnov, a special article about his contribution to compiling the Chuvash collections appears for the first time. It provides brief information on cooperation of the ethnographer-collector with the Museum of Russian Studies at Kazan University. However, it mainly tells about his fruitful ties with the Russian Ethnographic Museum. We revealed that during 1902–1904 Ivan Nikolaevich presented 9 Chuvash collections to St. Petersburg repository of ancient ethnographic items – about 1110 works of ornamental art and household items in total, the collector calls them «folk antiquity, original, beautiful», which «melts every year», since he «went to the Chuvash and the Cheremis 12 years ago, went last year… and I found a huge change: things that used to be found in almost every house could not be obtained in the whole village». We analyzed the contents of the catalogue of collections presented to the museum, fortunately, on the initiative of N.V. Nikolsky, a student and follower of Ivan Nikolaevich’s work, this truly original document turned out to be in his Manuscript Collection, now stored in Department I of the Scientific Archive at the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities.

Conclusions. Biographical materials published to date about Professor I.N. Smirnov give only a passing mention of his activities in collecting Chuvash ethnographic items for museums. This article makes an attempt to comprehensively cover the path of the researcher-collector. In the author’s opinion, the catalogue of collections, originally stored in the Scientific Archive at the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities, as well as reports and correspondence of the professor on ethnographic expeditions in governorates densely inhabited by the Chuvash, should be published in a separate book.