Cultural Heritage Protection in the Notes of the Ural Society of Devotees of Natural Science (Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries)

Abstract

This article analyses the practice of public presentation of the cultural heritage protection problems in the printed materials of the Ural Society of Devotees of Natural Science (Ekaterinburg) between the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Currently, the civil society structures are actively involved in the system of cultural heritage protection which makes the study of such historical experience relevant. The author comprehensively analyses the materials of Zapiski Uralskogo Obshchestva Lyubitelei Estestvoznaniya (Notes of the Ural Society of Devotees of Natural Science) (40 volumes) related to the discussion of issues of cultural heritage protection, which has never been done previously. The study uses research tools of the historical-anthropological and procedural methods. The article refers to different sources: published office documents of the Society (minutes of meetings, reports), scientific notes and papers, catalogs. The analysis of the sources demonstrates that Zapiski dealt with the problems of preserving all the main categories of cultural heritage (immovable, cultural properties, intangible). The publications pay significant attention to the problems of preserving book rarities and museum collections, disseminating their own and world experience in this area. The regular topics of Zapiski were the discussion of the problems of archaeological objects protection (registration, methods of study), information about excavations, and random archaeological finds. The important topics of the Zapiski were the popularization and actualization of objects of Ural cultural heritage. This was achieved through the publication of catalogs of the society’s collections and reviews of archaeological sites. Zapiski contains a lot of articles about the ethnography of the Ural population (everyday life, traditions, folklore). Nevertheless, the problems of preserving the intangible heritage were raised very rarely. The experience of protection activities was promoted by printed materials on the interaction between the Society and the Imperial Archaeological Commission, the provincial administration, and foreign organizations. The author believes that the materials of the Notes of the Ural Society of Devotees of Natural Science performed an important function of disseminating scientific and practical experience in the protection of cultural heritage, its popularization, and actualization.