The Russian Ethnographic Museum in the second half of the 1930s

Introduction. The Russian Ethnographic Museum (then the State Museum of Ethnography) in the late 1930s, as a resultofthecreationofahistoricaldepartmentinit, approachedthe status of a national museum. This change, which was very shortlived, is little known and continues to raise questions. Materials and Methods. The main method of research is the study and introduction into scientific circulation of information contained in the documents of the archive of the Russian Ethnographic Museum. Based on the analysis of archival documents and publications in scientific periodicals, the relationship between the logic of development of a particular scientific institution and the results of the influence of elements of state policy on it is revealed. Analysis. The analysis is carried out on the basis of an assessment of the changes that occurred at the State Museum of Ethnography in the second half of the 1930s. Results. During this period, the museum, having survived the reforms associated with its separation into a “Soviet” type institution, returned to scientific standards of work. A personal style of expedition trips was developed, a new type of exhibition was tested in practice, . and a concept for studying the ethnography of modern times was formed. A special event was the creation of a historical department in the museum for a short period, to support the work of which the collection of the former Historical and Household Department of the Russian Museum was used.