REPRESENTATION OF THE PAST IN THE OMSK REGIONAL MU-SEUM’S EXPOSITION (1929 – THE FIRST HALF OF 1941)

Abstract

The essay is devoted to the problems of constructing the historical section of theOmskRegionalMuseum’s exhibition in 1929 – the first half of 1941. At the turn of the second and the third decades of XX century the cultural politics in theUSSRhad changed, and the old approaches to museum representations of the past had been criticized. The author shows the crisis of the Omsk Museum’s exposition in the first half of the 1930s, when the historical exposition was dismantled, and the Museum staff was looking for a correct approach to the creation of a new historical section of the exposition but failed to implement a comprehensive approach. In the second half of the 1930s, theOmskMuseumworkers returned to the principle idea of the exhibition and created it slowly, in an atmosphere of constant debates and criticisms. The author shows the role of individual specialists in creating the exhibition and characterizes the attempts to overcome methodological crisis in the prewar years. The attention is paid to the museum visitors’ perception of the historical section, e.g. some critical remarks and wishes. The ideological significance of the exhibition is explained. According to the author, during 7 crisis years, the Museum did not accomplish the functions of the upgrading and expansion of theOmskcitizens’ collective historical memory. However, by sharing experiences with the colleagues fromMoscowand other cities, as well as due to the initiative of outstanding ethnographers, who came to the Museum in the late 1930s, the Museum staff found the solutions of problems, created the historical section of the exposition and developed the attendance and the interest of the citizens to the Museum.