PUBLIC MUSEUMS OF KOSTANAY REGION, KAZAKHSTAN, 1927-2005

This article examines the history of the formation and development of public forms of local history and museum activities in the Kostanay region of Kazakhstan during the Soviet period. Based on archival data, it traces the stages of the emergence of local history cells, school clubs, and public museums starting from the 1920s. The analysis highlights the challenges faced by the initiators, including a shortage of personnel and a weak methodological framework. Particular attention is given to the transformations of the 1960s–1980s, when active cooperation between the regional museum and educational institutions began. The study concludes that public museums reached their peak of development in the 1980s and identifies systemic issues that hindered their further progress. The collapse of the country’s economic, ideological, and social systems after 1991 led to a deep crisis in public forms of museum practice, resulting in the regional museum’s withdrawal from supervising public museums and the gradual decline of the latter. The most resilient public museums were eventually transferred to the financial and administrative control of state authorities as independent institutions or branches of the regional museum.