Based on the documentary resources introduced by the author into scientific circulation, the article analyzes the features of the national policy in the Urals in the 1920s in relation to the Bashkir and Tatar population. Tatars and Bashkirs made up 4% of the region’s population, but they were the largest ethnic minority in the region after Russians, and their number in some areas exceeded 95%. The article considers the activities to involve the activists in the communist and Komsomol movements, anti-religious policy and opposition to Islam, as well as the support of the culture of secular holidays, such as Sabantui (wild celebration). The office records of the central and regional archives, introduced by the author into scientific circulation, became the main source. The document analysis showed that in the first years of Soviet rule the policy of involving opinion makers and youth in the communist movement was not successful and did not arouse any interest in the local population. The process was hampered by the activities of Muslim religious leaders. They, unlike Orthodox ministers, had the freedom of missionary work and even the support of the Narkompros (national education) in the training of priests. Later, their activities were suppressed as contradicted to the communist ideology, and the authorities began to develop a culture of secular holidays and public life. As a result, the foundations for the modern secular national culture of the Tatars and Bashkirs of Russia were laid. The author is sure that the success of the implementation of such a policy makes it possible to redefine the approaches to assessing its efficiency.

The article considers such an important aspect of the Moscow Zoo’s activities in 1953–1954 as mass cultural work with visitors, as well as with attendees during the visits of the Zoo staff to sponsored institutions and organizations. The author considers in detail not only statistics, but also the issues of the implementation of mass cultural work in the Moscow Zoo. Besides, the article describes the difficulties the staff and management of the Zoo faced in organizing excursions, lectures, children’s parties, young zoo biologists camp and exhibitions.

The mass cultural work of the Moscow Zoo was focused on Muscovites and guests of the capital. It was carried out according to the tasks of the Moscow City Executive Committee, which, on the one hand, required the fulfillment of all planned indicators. On the other hand, it allowed the management of the Moscow Zoo to make extensive use of contacts and cooperation with other institutions of Moscow, i.e., parks, cinemas, theaters, tour bureaus etc. to implement mass cultural work with visitors and attendees as well as to conduct an advertising campaign about the work of the Zoo.  

The Russian political police were constantly reformed depending on changes in the domestic political situation in the country. Since 1867, provincial gendarmerie administration became an important part of it. Starting their activities as controlling bodies, the State Police gradually turned into basic units of political investigation with broad investigative powers and with a fairly extensive range of responsibilities in general. At the same time, at the local level they remained the most massive institutions of political investigation, which existed until the fall of the tsarist regime in 1917. In the article, on the basis of archival material, the author for the first time considers the process of formation of the Perm provincial Gendarmerie Administration (PPGA) and identifies the issues faced during the formation. He also identifies PGWU officer personnel as well as for the first time he publishes lists of non-commissioned officers of the first enlistment to the PGWU observation staff.

This article attempts to consider the audience as a specific community of spectators, listeners, and visitors of various performances at the stage of its formation in the early Soviet period. Numerous means were used to form the ability to perceive and understand the language of arts, aesthetic ideas and social attitudes; among which public holidays were the most effective. The festive culture of the first decades of Soviet government was focused on the active citizens’ mass participation in the events. The public was not supposed to remain indifferent to the holidays held by the state, primarily revolutionary ones. The roles of the spectator and the actor/participant of theatrical festive performances united in the space of festive culture. The task of Soviet citizens’ ideological upbringing meant their involvement in mass action. Active participation was supposed to foster a sense of collectivism, to form social identity and spiritual values. The state and public organizations’ study of the festive audience composition and spectator interest contributed to the development of methodological recommendations for holding festive events. The article discusses the techniques and methods of studying the audience in the festive practice of social construction of a “new” person in the 1920s–1930s.

The museum functions as an institution of memory, constructing images of the past and transmitting them to new generations. They are based on scientific ideas, social order and visitor requests, i.e. they differ from historical reality. This process is defined by the term “mediation”, which correlates with the concepts of “communication” and “interpretation”.

Taking into account the specifics of the museum (historical, memorial, art), the features of mediation, the images of the past have their own differences and complement each other, constructing a unique image of the place. A special role in this process is played by local history museums aimed at comprehensive modeling and presentation of the local past.

The image of the local history created by historical museums is reflected in the exposition and has some specifics. It has a space-time dimension, often supplemented by “action” (interactivity), and is also characterized by abstractness and conventionality, which is directly related to the language of description (scientific and / or literary). The current trend is characterized by active visualization and mythologization of the historical image, which is especially typical for museums in small towns.

The article is based on the materials of a historical and sociological survey of 12 small towns in Russia using interview, observation, mind map methods (RSF grant No. 21-18-00418 “Museum of a small town. Tthe multiplicity of cultures of memory”). The program included the study of not only museums (state, municipal, school, home, folk, private), but also archives, libraries, media, i.e. all institutions of memory. Such an integrated approach made it possible to clarify the specifics of the museum “genre” of memorization.  

Based on a wide range of historical sources, including published reference and anniversary editions, periodicals and documents from the collections of the Russian State Historical Archives and the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian State Library, the professional biography of Paktovskii Fedor Egorovich, a teacher, philologist and public figure, was restored. The research paper introduces previously unknown photographs of him and his family into scientific circulation for the first time, and also presents the attribution of an exhibit, i.e., a book by F.E. Paktovskii, kept in the funds of the Museum of History of the National Research University “BelSU”. In accordance with the geography of his career movements, five main periods of his life (Saratov, Kazan, Morshansk, Belgorod, Khar’kov) were identified and studied in chronological order. It is established that the professional path of F.E. Paktovskii is a movement from the position of a teacher to the position of a gymnasium director, and his social activism was aimed not only at the development of educational institutions, but also the cities in which he served. The research activity of F.E. Paktovskii, as a philologist, that he practiced for many years, is also of interest to researchers. Based on the information from the materials of the periodical press, it was possible to find that he was loved by his students and the intelligentsia.

The article presents results of the analysis conducted on the basis of archival materials of the bulletin “Sibarchiv” – the first in Siberia periodic information archival publication, which played an extremely important role in establishing the information exchange of archival institutions in the vast territories of the Siberian Region, in popularizing archives, attracting them to scientific work. All three and a half years’ worth of issues of the bulletin are considered in detail and the most important topics and questions raised in it since 1928 highlighted.

The outstanding role of V.D. Wegman, the head of the Sibarchive in saving documentary and archival materials from plunder and destruction, in organizing provincial archival departments, in attracting scientifically erudite, dedicated archiving specialists for work in the archives of Siberia is indicated.

It is shown how the experience of the bulletin “Sibarchiv” turned out to be in demand by archivists of the late 20^th century – early 21^st century. The examples given in the article prove that modern versions of the periodic archival press – the bulletin “Novosibirsk Archival Bulletin” and the scientific and historical electronic journal “Siberian Archive” – have absorbed interesting and effective forms and methods of work from their predecessors, revived and preserved the best traditions, remained in line with the current concerns of the professional community of historians and archivists in Siberia.

The article considers the informative value of the documents in the Saxon Main State Archive (Dresden, Germany) about persecution and restrictions during the First World War against the “enemy aliens”, subjects of the Russian Empire. The main idea in the documents of the archive funds is the rationale for the need of civilian captivity to ensure national security. The archive funds contain information about how the persecution of “enemy aliens” began in Germany, reveal the specifics in the situation with such categories of civilian captives as the interned and confined ones. The documents illustrate the position that the policy of internment is a mirror policy. It depends on the decisions of the government of the Russian Empire in regard to German subjects, who were deported and interned on the territory of Russia. There is an important information is contained on possible ways of humanitarian support for Russian civilian prisoners. The analysis of documents confirms that the least studied segment of the phenomenon of civilian captivity during the First World War is their repatriation.

The development of the North of Western Siberia was one of the key tasks of the Soviet state throughout the 20^th century. At the same time, the main actor and driving force was the state. It quickly became clear that it was impossible to integrate that region into the country’s economy without a detailed study of its natural resources and possibilities for their use. Still, the active phase of the development of the North of Western Siberia fell on the second half of the 20^th century and was primarily associated with the discovery of the richest reserves of hydrocarbon raw materials. Their large-scale development aggravated environmental problematics in the region. In this regard, the main purpose of the article is to analyze the possible research potential that regional archives have when studying the features of the dialogue between the authorities and society to solve the environmental issues of the North of Western Siberia. The novelty of the proposed work is that for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the available funds and documents on the ecological history of the North of Western Siberia is being carried out. As a result of the study, the authors found that the sources available in the regional archives contain valuable information that helps to understand how the Soviet environmental policy was implemented in one of the most industrialized regions of the country, its features and mechanisms of functioning. It helps to characterize the main actors of Human and Nature interaction in the region.

The article presents the systematized study results of the significant set of documents on the history and culture of the Kalmyk people of the 17^th – 20^th centuries, deposited in the funds of the State Archive of the Astrakhan Region (SAAR) due to the fact that the administrative regulation of socio-political processes in the Kalmyk Khanate in the 18^th century and in the Kalmyk steppe in the XVIII – early 20^th centuries was carried out by Astrakhan officials. The Astrakhan archival collections are historically a place of concentration of documents relating to the history and culture of the Kalmyk people, which have been insufficiently researched to date. Introduction to scientific circulation, research, clarification of attribution, publication of information on this source database will stimulate historical research and give a new incentive for the intensification of research activities.

The research object is documentary material related to the history and culture of the Kalmyk people in the funds of the State Archive of the Astrakhan Region. As a result, a significant complex of archival documents was studied, files related to the history and culture of the Kalmyk people were identified. Besides in some instances additional attribution and clarification of the chronological framework and scope of documents were carried out. The work was done to form a systematized, comprehensive database on the history of the Kalmyk people in the 17^th – 20^th centuries on the SAAR material. The identified files formed the basis for the forthcoming collection of documents on the SAAR funds.