The formation of the collection of the state historical and memorial preserve the Battle of Stalingrad: history, main directions and prospects

The study aims to analyze the process of formation and to identify the features of the funds of the State Historical and Memorial Preserve The Battle of Stalingrad, to determine the ways for the further development of work on their acquisition. In this case, museum catalogs, accounting documentation (books of receipts, inventory books, acts of acceptance of museum objects), archival documents were used as sources. The methodology was compiled by historiographic, historical-comparative, historical-typological and historical-system methods. Two directions of acquisition of the preserve’s funds (thematic and typological) are determined. The results of work on the identification of new exhibits, achieved in the pre-war period, when the institution was known under the name The Museum of Defence of Tsaritsyn Named After Comrade Stalin, and the influence of the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War on the composition of the collections is shown. The beginning of the process of completing the modern museum collection is associated with the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. The types of exhibits that came into storage after the restoration of the pre-war museum building are highlighted. The results of the first inventory of funds (1950) are described. The periods of the most active replenishment of collections are noted. The main ways of acquiring collections for the entire period of the museum’s activity (1936-2019) have been established, the types and varieties of exhibits that form the composition of each of the museum funds have been identified, and their significant distinctive characteristics have been described. The directions of acquisition of funds are determined, optimal ways of further acquisition and use of museum collections are proposed. The author highlights the stages of development of work on the acquisition of the museum’s funds depending on the change in the thematic focus of the exposition, which before the Great Patriotic War reflected the events related to the defence of Tsaritsyn during the Civil War (1918-1920) and Stalin’s personality cult. In the post-war period, the museum expanded its thematic direction and devoted its activities to preserving the memory of the heroic deed of the Soviet people in the Battle of Stalingrad. The features of the collections are a significant number of exhibits related to the written sources fund, an extensive collection of film and photographic documents. The process of forming the museum’s funds was determined by the cultural policy of the Soviet state; the influence of state structures and members of the public on the formation of the museum collection was also traced.