“Time to Gather Stones.” On history of the Jewish Historical-Ethnographic Museum and its collections. 2019

Abstract

This article is devoted to the history of the creation of the Jewish Museum in St. Petersburg in the early 20th century. The process of this complex and laborious business began in the 1860s. It was closely connected with the emergence of the Jewish intelligentsia in the country and with its awareness of its historical tasks in the national education of the people. First of all, the article highlights the following aspects of this case: its national character, its populist and liberal orientation, and the role of patronage. Despite the fact that the actual ideologist of the whole process of creating the museum was a member of the Russian populist movement, a member of the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries, writer, playwright and poet S. (Sh.) An-sky (Sh. Rapport) — this became a nationwide case. It was attended not only by revolutionaryminded people, but also by a representative of the Russian liberal movement—a prominent participant in the Russian political process, Cadet M. Vinaver — Zionists, Yiddishists and representatives of almost all the numerous Jewish parties and public organizations. The article highlights the point that, according to the idea of its creators, the museum was part of a single scientific and cultural system, designed to unite all national institutions under the auspices of the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society, officially established in 1908. Much space in the work is given to the history of expeditions, led by S. An-skim, that worked on the territory of the Jewish Pale to collect materials, documents and objects, and the liquidation of the Museum in 1929.