Working tools of Siberian Tatars in museums of Western Siberia and their use in research and exhibitions

Quantitative and qualitative composition of tools belonging to the Siberian Tatars from ethnographic collections of museums in Western Siberia is discussed using the example of museums in Omsk and Tyumen Regions. These tools were associated with traditional economic activities, such as agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, and fishing. Tools in museum collections mainly date back to the 19th-20th centuries. At that time the Siberian Tatars were a settled population with diverse traditional economy in the pre-revolutionary period. However, different groups of Tatars were engaged in specific economic activities depending on natural, social, and economic conditions. Research of the material culture of the Siberian Tatars and scholarly use of museum items for studying various aspects of everyday life are described. Museum objects from the category of tools have been widely used in exhibitions, as well as cultural and educational activities of museums to illustrate the traditional culture of the Tatars. The sources of this study include scholarly monographs, catalogs of ethnographic museum collections, data from the integrated automated museum information system in museums of Tobolsk and Tyumen, and annual reports of the "Starina Sibirskaya” Omsk State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve. It was concluded that ethnographic collections of museums play an important role in studying the traditional culture ofthe peoples of Siberia. They are an important and sometimes the only source of information about material and spiritual culture of various peoples ofthe past.