Collections of Mordovian women jewelry in Siberian museums

The article introduces original ethnographic sources into scientific circulation - the collections of Mordovian women jewelry, which were assembled in large Siberian museums during the 20th century. The relevance of the work is determined by the lack of special analyses of collections of Mordovian jewelry in museums of the Siberian region. It is known that at the end of the 18 th -first half of the 20th century, Mordovian immigrants arrived in Siberia and brought personal decorations made in the Volga region. Currently, such jewelry items can likely be found only in museum collections in the Siberian region. This is largely due to the rapid change in the ethnic identity of the Mordovian settlers, when national clothes, jewelry and other things were abandoned under the new living conditions. Jewelry pieces were kept chests and were rarely passed on by inheritance. The materials for jewelry manufacturing were hardly available in Siberia, and there was no need to produce personal decorations. The N.M. Martyanov Minusinsk State Museum of Local Lore, the Novosibirsk State Museum of Local Lore, and the Altai State Museum of Local Lore hold the most famous Mordovian jewelry collections in Siberia. The analysis of the materials has shown that the Minusinsk Museum collected Mordva-Moksha women jewelry, the Novosibirsk Museum hold Moksha jewelry and Mordva-Erzya products, the Altai Museum - Mordva-Erzya jewelry. The author analyzes the features of all collections of Mordovian women jewelry known in the museums of Western Siberia; it is shown that traditionally the Mordovian jewelry was distinguished by the sophisticated design and beauty; jewelry was an integral part of the national costume. Mordovian jewelry is regarded as a kind of ethnocultural marker.