Metadata: Materials of the Historical-Ethnographic Museum of the Jews of Georgia
Collection
- Country:
- Georgia
- Holding institution:
- Central Archive of Contemporary History
- Holding institution (official language):
- უახლესი ისტორიის ცენტრალური არქივი
- Postal address:
- 1, Vazha-Pshavela, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Email:
- info@archives.gov.ge
- Reference number:
- f. 35
- Title:
- Materials of the Historical-Ethnographic Museum of the Jews of Georgia
- Title (official language):
- Материалы Историко-этнографического музея евреев Грузии
- Creator/accumulator:
- Historical-Ethnographic Museum of the Jews of Georgia
- Date(s):
- 1936/1952
- Language:
- Russian
- Georgian
- Extent:
- 22 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection mostly includes administrative papers of the Historical-Ethnographic Museum: notes on the employee's salaries, budget and payment reports, requests for paid leave, employment requests etc. Certain documents refer to construction and repair works in the museum building, which was originally built as an Ashkenazi synagogue. Some of the administrative documents - such as appointment letters for researchers leaving for field research in rural areas - reflect the scholarly activities of the museum. For instance, the papers mention an expedition in the areas of Lailashi, Oni and Samtredia, led by A Krikhely, E Papismedov and I Pulner (on Krikhely and Papismedov see below; Isaiah Pulner, 1900-1942, was a specialist of Jewish ethnography, who in the late 1930 worked in the State Public Library and in the Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg).
Files from the early 1950s include government orders concerning the liquidation of the Museum, detailed lists of its holdings and property, correspondence and official documents on the liquidation process. A file from 1936 includes documents related to the liquidation process of the Evkombed.
- Archival history:
- The materials of the Historical-Ethnographic Museum are divided between two collections, currently held by the Central Archive of Contemporary History: f. 35, which is a part of the Literature and Art division, and f. 1711 in the general division. Until recently, the photographic collections of the museum were held by the Central Archive of Audio-Visual Documents (these collections included materials originating from the museum proper, along with materials from other Soviet-Jewish organisations in the Georgian SSR). Currently the original photographs are located at the David Baazov Museum of History of Jews of Georgia, while the CAAVD holds copies of the photographs.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Historical-Ethnographic Museum of the Jews of Georgia was established in 1933, on the basis of the ethnographic section of the Jewish Cultural Centre ("House of Culture") that functioned under the sponsorship of the Evkombed (The All-Georgian Aid Committee for the Jewish Poor; see f. 541 of the Central Archive). After the liquidation of the Evkombed in 1936 until its closure in 1951, the Museum functioned under the sponsorship of the Georgian Ministry (Komissariat) of Education. The museum's first director, Aharon Krikhely (1906-1974) was arrested in 1948; during the last years of its existence, the museum was headed by Eliyahu Papismedov (1902-1980).
The museum was located in buildings that were originally built as synagogues by the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Tbilisi; in the 1930s it shared its auspices with the Cultural Centre; from the 1940s on it moved to a building previously occupied by the Evkombed.
The museum worked on the collection of historical artefacts and organised expeditions aimed to collect ethnographical items and to document Jewish cultural practices and tradition. At its height, the museum's collection included ca. 16,000 items. Along with the permanent exhibition that included historical and ethnographical materials as well as propagandist materials on the Jews in Soviet Georgia, the museum was engaged in the organisation of various cultural activities - temporary and travelling exhibitions, lectures etc. Several volumes of the scholarly "Works of the Historical-Ethnographic Museum of the Jews of Georgia" were also published by the museum.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Krikhely, Aharon
- Papismedov, Eliyahu
- Pul’ner, I.
- Subject terms:
- Ashkenazi Jews
- Ethnography
- Financial records
- Historical research
- Museums
- Synagogues
- System of arrangement:
- The collection includes one inventory that is arranged in chronological order.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection is open for reference at the Central Archive of Contemporary History of Georgia.
- Finding aids:
-
A list of files and a catalogue are available at the Central Archive of Contemporary History. A list of Jewish-related files is available at the CAHJP in Jerusalem.
The larger part of the Museum's materials is included in f. 1711. A collection of Aharon Krikhely's materials is held and available at the CAHJP.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Alex Valdman (Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People), 2017