Research and presentation of scholarly ethnographic collections of the Russian Germans

This article discusses research into ethnographic collections of the Russian Germans in Russian museums, focusing on traditional areas where Germans lived in Russia - the Volga region (Central Museum of the Republic of the Volga Germans, Saratov Museum of the Local History) and Siberia (Omsk State Museum of the Local History, Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography of Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Altai State Museum of the Local History, and Museum of the Local History at Altai State Pedagogical University). Stages in museum organization, conditions for the development of museum ethnography and ethnographic museology in these regions, and main areas in studying ethnographic museum collections have been identified. All stages of museum organization were closely related to ethnic history of that ethnic group. Thus, creation of the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans corresponded to the emergence of the first ethnic museum; deportation resulted in transferring museums to “new” regions of residence, and emigration led to museum boom in attempts to preserve the disappearing memory. G.G. Dinges is an example of the role of individual persons in organizing the process of ethnographic study ofthe Russian Germans. Despite ideological pressure, a unique collection of objects was assembled in the 1920-1930s under his leadership. Today some of these objects are the only source for studying the Volga Germans and core objects for creating exhibitions in the museums of Saratov, Engels, and Marx. In Siberia, purposeful work on enriching and studying ethnographic collections has been carried out in museum centers established in Omsk and Barnaul. After analyzing the totality of publications on museum topics, it can be concluded that most of the works discuss the history of museums and emergence of their ethnographic collections; a special group of publications are catalogs and descriptions of specific collections, yet no targeted dissertations or monographic studies on this topic are available today.