ALEKSEY ALEKSANDROVICH SHAKHMATOV’S ROLE IN THE COMMISSION FOR THE COMPILATION OF ETHNOGRAPHIC MAPS OF RUSSIA OF THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

The article is devoted to a largely unknown aspect of the scientific biography of the famous scientist Aleksey Aleksandrovich Shakhmatov — his work in the Commission for the Compilation of Ehnographic Maps of Russia of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Based on archival documents, the author examines the history of the Commission, its methodology and the role that Shakhmatov played in its organization and activity. Shakhmatov played an important role in the formation of the Commission, took part in the discussion of the main issues of its activities, and headed the Commission during the period when it was controlled by the Ethnographic Department. Under the academician’s leadership, work on the creation of a linguistic map of European Russia and the Caucasus and on the Dialectological Map of the Russian Language in Europe (published in 1914) was carried out in the language department. The article continues the research of Valeria Igorevna Eremina, who devoted a considerable part of her scientific energy to the study and publication of Shakhmatov’s scientific heritage. An appendix presents the first publication of records of discussions of the Commission about the compilation of ethnographic maps of Russia and of the language department, and two letters from Dmitry Nikolayevich Ushakov to Sergey Fyodorovich Oldenburg and Aleksey Aleksandrovich Shakhmatov.