The archaeological commission of the Scientific and library unit of the State Scientific Council (1924-1925)

Some state and public institutions functioning in archaeology in the 1920s are still ‘under the radar' of researchers. The State Scientific Council in the RSFSR People's Commissariat for Education is one of such institutions. This Council's objectives were to organize and consolidate the country's research community and provide state oversight of scientific activity relating to financing and ideology. These objectives in archaeology were pursued by the Archaeological Commission of the Council described in this paper. Information on the Archaeological Commission can be found only in archival sources. The Commission's head was V. A. Gorodtsov who was a major figure in archaeology of that time and also served as the head of the RSFSR Archaeological Service. Though operating for a short period of time (1924-1925), the Commission made a substantial contribution to development of archaeological science and practice. In the middle of 1925 the Scientific and Library Unit was abolished and its functions were taken over by other, more specialized agencies.