Personal funds of the 20th century scientists, inventors and educators in the National Archives of Uzbekistan

Abstract

The article analyzes some personal funds of the scientists, inventors and educators, kept in the National Archives of Uzbekistan. The research raises the question of the place and role of the funds of personal origin as archival historical sources. The article highlights the issues related to the funds of major scientists, technicians and educators kept in the National Archives of Uzbekistan. It also provides a brief description of a number of the funds, connected with the scientists in the field of natural and exact sciences, medicine; specialists in the field of historical and philological sciences and, in general, in social and humanitarian spheres, including historians, archaeographers and librarians. The article draws attention to some funds, for example, the funds of F.M. Mauer, E.K. Betger, or to the more studied ones, such as the fund of academician R.R. Schroeder, A.H. Babakhodzhaev, and also to a number of others (including family funds). The paper highlights, for example, the availability of the funds reflecting the creation and testing of the first electronic television system in Tashkent in 1928 – those funds pertaining to the creators of the so-called “telephoto” and the participants in the tests of that device – B.P. Grabovsky, K.K. Slivitsky, Aziz Niallo (A.V. Stanishevsky). The research features the presence of the personal funds of major scientists in the field of history, such as L.V. Gentschke, A.P. Savitsky, G.V. Parfenov, etc. The article aims at attracting the attention of historians to the usage of vast and interesting historical material on the history of science and technology in Uzbekistan, which is provided by the prominent scientists’ personal funds kept in the National Archives of Uzbekistan (as well as in a number of other archives of the country).