The personal archive of N. N. Volkov as a source for studying beliefs of the Sami

The article is devoted to the works of the Soviet ethnographer Nikolai Nikolaevich Volkov (1904-1953), the author of the monograph on Russian Sami, which was published after the death of the repressed scientist. The study was conducted on the basis of materials of the Scientific Archive of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography named after Peter the Great (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The emphasis is on the position of the ethnographer regarding religious beliefs of the Saami. The general characteristics of Volkov’s personal archive, the role of his works on religious institutions, the system of Sami beliefs and their Christianization are presented. The dynamics of the Soviet ethnographer’s position in 1930s-1940s on a number of issues related to the assessment of the Orthodox missionary work and extra-Christian religious practices of the Saami was revealed. At the same time, the evolutionist point of view on the gradual withering of some religious beliefs of the Saami and the recognition of their formal confession of Orthodoxy remained stable.