The Archival Documents on the Activities of the Buryat-Mongolian State Institute of Culture in the 1930s

The purpose of the article is to study the written sources appeared as a result of activities of the Buryat-Mongolian State Institute of Culture - the successor of the Buryat-Mongolian scientific committee and kept now in the Centre of Oriental manuscripts and xylographs of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article highlights the history of the Institute of Culture as the main research center for the study of the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic in the 1930s, archival documents characterizing the history of the creation of the library and library collections, publishing activities and information about unpublished works, for example about the manuscript version of the bibliography, including 602 entries. Through the integrated use of content analysis methods for text arrays in archival sources and the reconstruction of separate events in chronological order, the main directions of the Institute’s activities have been determined. In spite of the complicated period in the history of the country the process of collecting books in Tibetan, Mongolian and in Old Slavonic was not stopped. During 7 years of functioning, the Institute was able to develop its scientific potential, form an extensive source base on the history, folklore and ethnography of the Buryat people, and successfully solve the issues of language construction. Archival materials presented by various documents: articles, monographs, drafts, field materials, both published and unpublished, are of great scientific importance and are of interest to historians of science, folklorists, and ethnologists.

1. Bazarov BV (ed) (2022) The Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences: 100 years. Vol. 1. From Buruchkom to IMBTS of SB RAS. Irkutsk, Ottisk Publ. (In Russ.).

2. Bazarov BV, Vanchikova TsP, Plekhanova AM and Chimitdorzhieva GN (2021) From Scientific Committee to Academic Institute: to the 100th anniversary of Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the SB RAS. Bulletin of the Buryat scientific center of SB RAS 3(43): 127–132. (In Russ.). DOI 10.31554/2222-9175-2021-43-127-132.

3. Bazarova VV (2012) Latinization of the Buryat-Mongolian script in the 1920s – 1930s. Vlast’ 8: 106–109. (In Russ.).

4. Dolotov AS (1931) Old Believers in Buryatia (Semeiskie in Buryatia). Verkhneudinsk. (In Russ.).

5. Dolotov AS (1932a) The origin of Buddhism. Verkhneudinsk. (In Russ.).

6. Dolotov AS (1932b) The origin and spread of Lamaism. Verkhneudinsk. (In Bur.).

7. Dolotov AS (1932v) Lamaism in the service of autocracy and capitalism. Verkhneudinsk, Burgis. (In Russ.).

8. Khadalov PI (1958) Activity of the Institute of Culture for 35 years. To the 35th anniversary of the Institute of Culture. Ulan-Ude, Printing house of the Ministry of Culture of the BMASSR. (In Russ.).

9. Khaptaev PT (1934) Theses of the report “On controversial issues of the historical process in Buryatia”. Irkutsk. (In Russ.).

10. Kotlomanova SN and Zavadskoi TP (comps.), Mamontov MA and Mikheeva GV (eds) (2014). Bibliography of the Russian bibliography. Saint Petersburg, Russian national library Publ. URL.: https://nlr.ru/nlr_visit/dep/artupload/media/article/RA2020/NA15009.pdf (дата обращения = accessed 29.03.2023). (In Russ.).

11. Plekhanova AM, Vanchikova TsP (2021) Achievements and Problems of Humanities Research in Buryatia, 1930s–1940s: A Case Study of Buryat-Mongol State Institute of Culture (1929–1936) and Buryat-Mongol State Institute of Language, Literature and History (1936–1944). Mongolian Studies 13(3): 450–466. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.22162/2500-1523-2021-3-450-466.

12. Semechev BV (1958) Bibliographic index of publications of the Buryat-Mongolian Scientific Research Institute of Culture for 35 years. To the 35th anniversary of the Institute of Culture. Ulan-Ude, Printing house of the Ministry of Culture of the BMASSR. (In Russ.).

13. The plan of Institute of Culture on 5 years. The life of Buryatia 1930 (2–3): 113–117. (In Russ.).

14. Togmitov BD (1932) Modern Lamaism in Buryatia and the tasks of further struggle against it. Verkhneudisk, Burgosizdat. (In Russ.).

15. Vanchikova TsP and Rinchinov OS (2021) Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs of IMBTS of SB RAS. Bulletin of the Buryat scientific center of SB RAS 3(43): 148–155. (In Russ.). DOI 10.31554/2222-9175-2021-43-148-155

16. Vanchikova TsP, Ayusheeva MV and Rinchinova OS (comps.) (2017) Buryad-Mongolian Scientific Committee (1922–1929). Ulan-Ude: BSC of SB RAS Publ. (In Russ.)