“Our northern guests can settle on the shores of the frozen Moscow River with their deer”: D. T. Yanovich on the possibility of organizing a paid ethnographic exhibition to help the starving (autumn 1921)

Abstract

In 1921, drought and then famine swept the territory of 23 provinces of Soviet Russia with a population of 32 million. In order to concentrate the resources necessary for the purchase of food in the West, at the end of 1921, the Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR ordered Moscow to concentrate gold, platinum, silver (in bars and products from them), precious stones, pearls, and currency. Confiscated by state bodies from their previous owners and have since been stored in warehouses in different parts of the country. In parallel, in the first half of 1922, a campaign was unfolding to remove the most valuable part of religious property (nationalized and handed over to registered groups of believers since 1918) from existing religious buildings of various denominations, as well as excavation of some high-value museum pieces, however no historical or artistic value. The collected material values were planned to be sold on the foreign market in the future. The confiscation activities of the authorities were accompanied by a powerful campaign campaigning to the population of the country and the world community, with calls for voluntary donations from ordinary citizens and the provision of humanitarian assistance from foreign trade union and charitable organizations. Along with religious associations (including foreign ones), scientists and culture workers from many countries of the world took an active part in saving the starving population. The old Russian intelligentsia has also contributed in various forms and forms. An outstanding anthropologist, archeologist and ethnographer, head of the Museum of the Stroganov School (Moscow), Daniel Timofeevich Yanovich addressed the leadership of the relevant department of the People’s Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR with the initiative to organize a paid ethnographic exhibition with the subsequent transfer of the collected funds to the fund of assistance to regions in distress. The following documents help us understand the details of the author’s intention. Archival publication is preceded by a detailed biographical note on D. T. Yanovich (27.07.1879–18.01.1940) and is accompanied by detailed comments on the text of his letter.

Keywords:

Soviet Russia, famine, religious organizations, the Museum Department of the People’s Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, an ethnographic exhibition, the State Museum Fund, D. T. Yanovich