Representation of the traditional culture of Muslim Tatars in pre-revolutionary Kazan (based on the collections of the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan University)

Based on the materials of museum collections and archival records, the article examines in chronological order the history of the formation of the ethnographic collection on the culture of Muslim Tatars at Kazan University in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Moreover, the paper describes the composition of collections and the specifics of the acquisition of funds. For the first time, the authors of the article analyze a set of objects belonging to Muslim Tatars from the collection of the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan University. Ethnographic museum collections do not just represent the culture of peoples, they also reflect the realities of the time (the history of the development of ethnography and the scientific paradigm, the social context), which increases the relevance and significance of such works. The methodological basis of the research is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. Formal typological, problematic chronological and comparative historical methods and the method of description are used in the work. The article pays special attention to exhibitions as a vivid manifestation of the entire collection of the museum and concludes that for the first time the features of the ethnography of the Kazan Tatars (decorative and applied arts and costume) were presented in the wide public space of Kazan only in 1912. Prior to this, the collections were extremely small and practically had never been exhibited. The "museification" of the traditional culture of the Muslim Tatars at the end of the 19^th century began with the collection of obsolete women's jewelry and printed shamails as a vivid and interesting manifestation of the culture of the Kazan Tatars. The need to record the Tatar culture as a whole, not only the part that goes out of existence, comes a little later.

1. Guschina E.G. Jetnograficheskoe sobranie Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta: istorija formirovanija i razvitija [Ethnographic collection of the Imperial Kazan University: history of formation and development]. Izvestiya obshchestva arkheologii, istorii i etnografii pri Kazanskom universitete [Proceedings of the Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography at Kazan University]. 2019;39(1–2):1–256. (In Russian)

2. Galeltdinova L.R. Tatarskij shamail' v fondah Jetnograficheskogo muzeja Kazanskogo universiteta [Tatar Shamail in the funds of the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan University]. Istoriko-kul'turnoe nasledie kak potencial razvitija turistsko-rekreacionnoj sfery: materialy mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii. Kazanskij gosudarstvennyj universitet kul'tury i iskusstv [Historical and cultural heritage as a potential for the development of the tourist and recreational sphere: proceedings of the international scientific and practical conference. Kazan State University of Culture and Arts]. Vol. 3. Kazan: Kazan State University of Culture and Arts Publ.; 2014, pp. 47–51. (In Russian)

3. Galeltdinova L.R., Masalova O.A. Istorija pojavlenija kollekcij tatarskih shamailej v Jetnograficheskom muzee Kazanskogo universiteta [The history of the appearance of Tatar Shama’il collections in the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan University]. Terra Linguae Et Reliquiae. Sbornik nauchnyh statej. Institut mezhdunarodnyh otnoshenij istorii i vostokovedenija [Terra Linguae Et Reliquiae. Collection of scientific articles. Institute of International Relations of History and Oriental Studies]. Vol. 1. Kazan: TAI Publ.; 2014, pp. 20–22. (In Russian)

4. Masalova O.A., Gushhina E.G. Mnogoobrazie islamskogo mira v kollekcijah Jetnograficheskogo muzeja Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [The diversity of the Islamic world in the collections of the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan State University]. Nasledie islama v muzejah Rossii: prostranstvennye granicy i obrazy. Materialy nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii 10–12 December 2008 [The legacy of Islam in Russian museums: spatial boundaries and images. Materials of the scientific and practical conference on December 10-12, 2008]. Kazan: Editorial and publishing center “Shkola”; 2009, pp. 19–21. (In Russian)

5. Masalova O.A., Gushhina E.G. Islamskij mir v sobranii Jetnograficheskogo muzeja Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [The Islamic world in the collection of the Ethnographic Museum of Kazan State University]. Islamovedcheskie issledovanija v sovremennoj Rossii i SNG: dostizhenija, problemy, perspektivy [Islamic Studies in modern Russia and the CIS: achievements, problems, prospects]. Kazan: Kazan University Publishing House; 2009, pp. 41–45. (In Russian)

6. Katalog vystavki 1882 goda Obshhestva arheologii, istorii i jetnografii pri Imperatorskom Kazanskom universitete [Catalog of the 1882 exhibition of the Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography at the Imperial Kazan University]. Kazan: University Printing House; 1882. 67 p. (In Russian)

7. Smirnov I.N. Muzej Otechestvovedenija [Museum of Russian Studies]. Izvestija Obshhestva arheologii, istorii i jetnografii pri Imperatorskom Kazanskom universitete [Proceedings of the Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography at Imperial Kazan University]. 1892;10(4):442-446. (In Russian)

8. Smirnov I.N. Jetnografija na Kazanskoj nauchno-promyshlennoj vystavke [Ethnography at the Kazan Scientific and Industrial Exhibition]. Kazan: Kazan University Publishing House; 1890. 36 p. (In Russian)

9. Kratkij ukazatel' hudozhestvennoj jetnografichesko-arheologicheskoj vystavki. Sobrane L.O. Siklera [A short index of the artistic ethnographic and archaeological exhibition. Collection of L.O. Sickler]. Kazan, 1912. 14 p. (In Russian)

10. Adler B.F. Kollekcija Siklera [The Sickler Collection]. Kazanskij muzejnyj vestnik [Kazan Museum Bulletin]. 1922;2:35–47. (In Russian)

11. Fuks K.F. Kazanskie tatary v statisticheskom i jetnograficheskom otnoshenijah [Kazan Tatars in statistical and ethnographic relations]. Kazan: University Printing House; 1844. 131 p. (In Russian)

12. Mustafina G.M. Osnovatel' jetnografii tatarskogo naroda Karl Fuks [Karl Fuchs, founder of ethnography of the Tatar people]. Tatarica. 2013;1:238–242. [Electronic source]. Available at: http://kpfu.ru/docs/F1170137306/18_Mustafina.rus.pdf (Accessed: 01.09.2025). (In Russian)

13. Nazipova G.R. Universitet i muzej: istoricheskij opyt gubernskoj Kazani [University and museum: the historical experience of provincial Kazan]. Kazan: Shkola Press; 2004. 395 p. (In Russian)

14. Krjukova T.A. Ukazatel' jetnograficheskih kollekcij narodov Povolzh'ja. Gosudarstvennyj muzej Tatarskoj ASSR [Index of ethnographic collections of the peoples of the Volga region. The State Museum of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic]. Kazan, 1958. 48 p. (In Russian)

15. Katanov N.F. O nekotoryh veshhah Kazanskogo gorodskogo muzeja [About some things of the Kazan City Museum]. Izvestiya obshchestva arkheologii, istorii i etnografii pri Kazanskom universitete [Proceedings of the Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography at Kazan University]. 1919;30(1):97–102. (In Russian)