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. 1711
- 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):
- 1934/1952
- Language:
- Russian
- Georgian
- Extent:
- 133 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains a variety of materials, reflecting different aspects of the Museum's activities. These can be divided into the following thematic groups:
1. Correspondence and reports on scientific and educational activities: letters to and from museums' associates from Moscow and St. Petersburg (letters by A Bramson, A Krikhely, I Pulner, and others); annual work plans and annual reports on the museum's activities, as well as a general historical overview of its activities from 1940; records on the arrangement of the museum's permanent exhibition, along with materials on preparation of temporary exhibitions – such as an anti-religious (1939) and an anti-Nazi exhibition (1938-1939 and 1941), an exhibition of the works of the painter Sholom Koboshvili (1939); materials of scientific expeditions, such as an expedition to Akhaltsikhe in 1939 and an expedition to Southern Ossetia in 1947.
2. Data on the museum's holdings, photographs of the museum and of specific exhibits: photographs, lists, and tables on the museum's display in the 1930s; projects of the museum's renovation in 1937; paperwork on the acquirement of exhibits, correspondence with museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg on exhibits exchange; inventory books, lists of items, books, photographs and paintings held by the museum (mostly from the 1940s and from the period of the museum's liquidation in the early 1950s).
3. Administrative papers: orders and regulations, correspondence with governmental organisations and with the Evkombed (on this organisation, see f. 541); letters and requests by museum employees; minutes of the museum's administration meetings, workers' meetings and so on; financial information: budget sheets, financial reports, lists of incomes and expenses, lists of employees and data on their salaries. Pages from the museum's visitors' book can be also found in the collection.
- Archival history:
- The materials of the Historical-Ethnographic Museum are divided between two collections, currently held by the Central Archive of Contemporary History: f. 1711 in the general division and f. 35, which is a part of the division of Literature and Art.
- 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: locations:
- Akhaltsikhe
- Tbilisi
- Access points: persons/families:
- Bramson, A
- Koboshvili, Sholom
- Krikhely, Aharon
- Pul’ner, I.
- Subject terms:
- Art
- Education
- Exhibitions
- Financial records
- Museums
- Photographs
- 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.
For additional materials on the Museum see f. 35 in the Central Archive of Contemporary History. A collection of Aharon Krikhely's materials is held by the CAHJP and are available there.
- 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
