“The Selling Lady Cried… When the Purchase Was Carried Away”: Ethnographic Collections of S.M. and E.N. Shirokogoroff

Abstract

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences keeps the unique ethnographic, archaeological, anthropological and photographic collections gathered by S.M. and E.N. Shirokogoroff. Until recently, they were accessible only to a narrow circle of scholars. The article for the first time provides a review of these ethnographic collections, reconstructs their history, and discusses the issues that arise in connection to their study, publication, and representation. We focus on Sergei Shirokogoroff’s special interest in the material culture of the Russian Far East. We further examine the paramount part that his wife Elizaveta played in the formation of the collections, and discuss the important contributions of other donors and benefactors. Particular attention is paid to the changes that the status of museum objects undergoes in the context of the given storage system and scientific description.