The Phenomenon of F. F. Bolonev: The Scholarly Legacy of an Outstanding Siberian Ethnographer

The article provides a comprehensive review of the scholarly legacy of the outstanding Siberian ethnographer Firs Fedosovich Bolonev, whose works are housed in the collections of the Scientific Library of Buryat State University. F. F. Bolonev, a chief researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS, estab-lished himself as one of the leading specialists in the study of the traditional spiritual and material culture of the Russian population of Siberia. The main areas of his research included the history, ethnography, and ritual folklore of Old Believers, particularly the Semeiskie of Transbaikalia. Over the years of his productive career, the scholar participated in 30 ethnographic expeditions, collecting unique field materials. He published more than 30 mono-graphs and 235 scholarly articles. The article offers a detailed analysis of his seminal works, such as The Folk Calendar of the Semeiskie of Transbaikalia, Old Believers of Altai and Transbaikalia: A Comparative Study, Plowmen and Warriors of the Russian Volosts of Western Transbaikalia, and others. Special attention is paid to monographs devoted to the history and culture of the Tarbagatai District, the author’s native region, as well as to the encyclopedic reference work Semeiskie Old Believers of Buryatia, pro-duced under his scholarly supervision. The legacy of F. F. Bolonev is of enduring value, as it introduces a vast body of archival and field data into scholarly circulation and makes a significant contribution to the preservation of historical memory and the strengthening of interethnic tolerance in the region.