Scientific Archive of the Tver State United Museum: museum archive in the study of archaeological collections

Stepanova Yuliya Vladimirovna ORCID: 0000-0002-3717-1589 PhD in History Senior Researcher; Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences 16/31 Trekhsvyatskaya str., office 207, Tver, 119334, Russia m000142@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The archaeological collection of the Tver Museum was one of the largest in Central Russia. A.A. Spitsyn noted that it primarily characterizes the culture of the province. Tver museum workers did not collect everything, but mainly what characterizes the local culture ^[40]. In the twentieth century, the devastating events of the revolutions and the Second World War had a negative impact on the preservation of the museum's collections. Archaeological collections have been severely damaged. Suffice it to say that of the huge number of finds from the excavations of hundreds of ancient Russian burial mounds made in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, very few objects have been preserved in the collections of the modern Tver State United Museum (TSOM). For example, one (!) complex has been preserved from the materials of large-scale field research of the Glinniki kurgan group (excavations by N.A. Chagin in 1884) ^{[9, p. 71, Fig. 28]}.

Nevertheless, an idea of the archaeological collections of the pre-revolutionary Tver Museum can be obtained from a number of publications. First of all, this is a description of the Tver Museum, prepared by its founder A.K. Zhiznevsky ^[8], a summary work by V.A. Pletnev on the archaeological sites of the Tver province ^[34], a brief description of the museum, prepared by V.I. Kolosov ^{[21; 22]}. Information about the museum's receipts was published in the Tver Museum and Its Acquisitions for 1884-1912. Archaeological objects have always accounted for a significant share of the museum's acquisitions, which included manuscripts and old printed books, ethnographic objects, works of fine and decorative arts, and remnants of ancient flora and fauna.

A significant part of the archaeological collection of the Tver Museum was lost during the revolutionary and military events of the first half of the twentieth century. Many items turned out to be depasporized. This is evidenced by the inventory books of the Kalinin Regional Museum of Local Lore (COCM) for objects from preserved collections and new arrivals for 1945-1953 (parts I and II) ^{[12; 13]}. While the total number of items in the museum's pre-revolutionary collection was about 100,000 items, about 2,000 items from this collection were identified in the post-war period.

However, information about the composition of the TSOM pre-revolutionary fund is contained in the extensive museum documentation stored in the TSOM Scientific Archive (AT TSOM). This archive includes materials from the 19th–20th centuries, including the funds of the Tver Scientific Archival Commission, the Tver (Kalinin) Museum itself, and individuals.

The most valuable sources are books of receipts, acts, reports on museum acquisitions, journals of the Museum Council meeting, correspondence on the acquisition of exhibits, on their use, financial documents for 1882-1925. These sources reflect the history of the Tver Museum's acquisition, the composition and movement of the museum's funds, its material resources, the activities of state and public organizations, and individuals involved in the formation and study of museum collections.

The preserved books of receipts reflect the composition of the museum's collection most fully. ^{[15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 27; 28; 29]}. Some of them are called "Inventory of the Tver Museum. The book of receipts". Another part of the books is called the "Book of receipts of archaeological objects". It partially duplicates the information of the inventories, including the list of objects classified as archaeological in accordance with the understanding of this term in the XIX – early XX century. Thus, in the records of the books of receipt of archaeological objects, there are records not only of finds on archaeological sites, but also of objects of church antiquity and decorative and applied arts. Books from 1870-1909 have been preserved. There are also documents on the museum's acquisitions for 1913-1925, which differ in less detailed descriptions of the items received. ^{[1; 7; 32; 33]}.

The Tver Museum's admission books recorded the characteristics of the objects' appearance, including the features of their shape and decor. There were indications of the material, sometimes the manufacturing technology. The description of the places of finds often indicates not just a city or settlement, but also a specific site, for example, "Tver, the Volga coast near the Church of John the Baptist", "Staritsa, Old settlement". Information about some of the finds is included along with a description of the excavations, for example, materials from the excavations of ancient Russian burial mounds near dd. Skovorotyn and Podborovye of Rzhevsky district in 1889 (No. 5231-236) ^[28]. The names of the donors were indicated. The objects were assigned museum numbers (given in this article, for example, "No. 2711"). Information about the admission is only partially reflected in the publications of the Tver Museum and its Acquisitions.

A comparison of the pre-revolutionary archaeological collection of the Tver Museum with the funds of the Soviet period is made possible by the inventory books of the Kalinin Regional Museum of Local Lore for objects from the preserved collections for 1945 ^{[12; 13]}, a comparison sheet for precious products and stones compiled after 1950 ^[39] and modern museum documentation. This comparison shows that the museum's documents have the potential for further work on identifying objects preserved but depasporized in the twentieth century with information from the pre-revolutionary period. This work was done by the author of this article based on the materials of an extensive collection of earrings from the 14th–18th centuries. At least 150 records of these objects (paired and single) were made in the pre-revolutionary documentation of the Tver Museum, and their total number was at least 260. 68 copies of earrings are kept in the ethnographic collection of TSOM ("Life"); 36 copies are in the collection of precious metals of TSOM ("Precious Metals"). Information about the origin of the earrings and their relationship to pre-revolutionary collections in modern accounting documents is extremely scarce. These are, for example, earrings (whole and a fragment) in the form of a question mark from a 17th-century monetary treasure near the village of Mazalovo, Korchevsky district, Tver province, which entered the museum in 1874. An entry about them is present in the Tver Museum's Inventory Register for 1870-1883 under No. 307 ^[16], the inventory book of the KOKM for items from the preserved collections and new arrivals for 1945-1953 under No. 1093 ^[13]. The image of the earring was placed in the "Description of the Tver Museum" by A.K. Zhiznevsky ^{[8, p. 149]}. Currently, one earring is in the collection of "Precious Metals" TSOM (KP 1734).

Studying the detailed descriptions of the earrings in the museum documentation allows us to compare at least 37 items of the TSOM modern collection with items from pre-revolutionary collections. Here are some examples of reliable identification:

- a pair of silver twin earrings with green and red highlights from the burial at the White Trinity Church in Tver № 56 ^[16]; № 1760/1–2 " Precious metals" (fig. 1: 2);

- a pair of bronze twin earrings pierced with clear, colorless glass from Ivanovskoye, Zubtsovsky district No. 316-317 ^[16]; Code 2226/5–6 "Everyday life" (Fig. 1: 5);

- a pair of bronze earrings with a leaf–shaped pendant with a cast ornament of circles and lines from Staritsa No. 1021 ^[16]; CODE 2226/21-22 "Everyday Life" (Fig. 1: 7);

- a pair of bronze earrings from Tver with a leaf-shaped slit shield with an image of a human head at the top; in the 19th century, mother-of-pearl beads were hung along the lower edge of the shield, and a pink piercing No. 4092 ^[28] was placed in the center; CODE 2245/16-17 "Everyday Life" (Fig. 1: 6);

- a pair of three-piece bronze earrings from Yaroslavl with metal and glass red and colorless piercings No. 6140 ^[29]; CODE 2254/14-15 "Everyday life" (Fig. 1: 8);

- a pair of silver-gilt earrings from Gorodnya village, Tver district, with a curly shield with a red insert, with four pendants made of blown piercings No. 3752 ^[29]; KP 894/1–2 "Precious Metals" (Fig. 1: 3);

- silver triple earring from Tver with three pendants of small (at the edges) and large (in the center) pearls No. 8719 ^[29]; KP 1775 "Precious Metals" (fig. 1: 1);

- silver gilt earring from the village of Rogozha, Ostashkovsky district No. 2711 ^[27]; No. 1748 "Precious Metals") (Fig.); based on the characteristic features of the shape, a number of earrings from Ostashkov (No. 5227a) and villages of the lake basin correspond to this type. Seliger: Kalischi (No. 5226), Hotoshino (No. 5227b) ^[28] (Fig. 1:4).

Fig. 1. Earrings from the TSOM collection, correlated with entries in the books of receipts of the pre-revolutionary Tver Museum. 1 – No. 8719, KP 1775 "Precious Metals"; 2 – № 56, № 1760/1 " Precious Metals"; 3 – No. 3752, KP 894/1 "Precious Metals"; 4 – № 2711, № 1748 " Precious metals"; 5 – No. 316-317; Code 2226/5–6 "Life"; 6 – No. 4092, CODE 2245/16–17 "Gen."; 7 – No. 1021, CODE 2226/21–22 "Gen."; 8 – No. 6140; CODE 2254/14–15 "Gen." 1-3 – XVI–XVII centuries; 4-8 – XVII–XVIII centuries.

Thus, the study made it possible to establish for a series of objects the place of their discovery, the time of entry into the Tver Museum, and the features of the original condition.

Another possibility provided by the documents of the TSOM scientific archive is the characterization of archaeological objects based on their descriptions. A similar study can be carried out in relation to a number of categories of objects: earrings, pads, clasps, pendants, temple rings, etc. For example, for overlays of various shapes, the terms "overlay", "ornament", "plate", "rectangle" were used in the receipt books. For example, "a semicircular ornament with three pegs depicting an animal in a triple rim to the right, with its head turned back and tail bent up" No. 3646, found in Tver ^[27], corresponds to the category of overlays of a Russian costume with zoomorphic images dating from the XV–XVII centuries. The "bronze rectangle with the image of an animal to the left" No. 3618 ^[27] corresponds to the well–known items of the handbag set of the XVI-XVII centuries. At least five linings in the form of a human hand were found in Tver. (№ 2404, 5300, 11336, 11867, 12142) ^{[15; 17; 28; 48]}, They were also used as a handbag set in the XVI–XVII centuries ^{[4, fig. 2: 4]}.

Earrings with a bird figurine at the end (Nos. 7427 and 11379) ^{[16; 28]} identify temporal rings with a shaped blade in the form of a bird, dating from the XIV–XVI centuries ^[44].

Some items are described in sufficient detail in the documents, for example, coil pendants from Rzhev (No. 2225), Semenov Gorodok (No. 5936), Medveditskoe village. (№ 5937) ^{[27; 28]}, which can be attributed to the XII–XIII centuries.

A significant addition to the characteristics of the pre-revolutionary archaeological collection of the Tver Museum are the materials from the personal fund of the museum's founder, A.K. Zhiznevsky (AT TSOM, f. 6). They are valuable because they include images of objects, which is relatively rare in the documentation of pre-revolutionary excavations. In relation to the excavations of medieval kurgan antiquities, the research materials of S.A. Gatsuk and Yu.G. Gendune, containing images (drawings and photos) of the found objects, are highlighted in this regard. Images of objects from the excavations of the XIX – early XX century. ancient and medieval archaeological sites of the Upper Volga region contain publications and working materials by A.A. Spitsyn, A.K. Zhiznevsky, A.N. Vershinsky ^[9].

But in general, the volume of illustrative material from archaeological research in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Tver region in comparison with the number of monuments investigated by excavations. The same can be said about accidental finds. In the textual descriptions of the excavation materials, researchers of the 19th and early 20th centuries relied on the chronological types of things known at that time, in particular, those published in the series "Materials on the Archeology of Russia" (IDA) ^{[3; 41; 42]}. All the more valuable are the few pictorial sources that allow us to form a more accurate picture of objects, including lost ones.

The A.K. Zhiznevsky fund contains inventories of collections, correspondence of A.K. Zhiznevsky on the acquisition of museum objects, etc. There is also a case with the title "Illustrations to the book by A.K. Zhiznevsky "Description of the Tver Museum" dated 1893.

The summary work of A.K. Zhiznevsky was published in 1888.^[8] It includes 10 sections devoted to certain categories of subjects, and is provided with notes by A.S. Uvarov. The edition includes more than 130 illustrations of items, most of which relate to the ecclesiastical and numismatic departments.

Case 7 in the A.K. Zhiznevsky Foundation contains illustrations of various subjects ^[11]. They are made on separate cards of various sizes, on which graphic images are printed using purple and black ink (Fig. 2). Drawings of a number of objects are printed in 10-15 copies. The cards are enclosed in paper envelopes. There are isolated photographs, including a photo of a treasure found in Staraya Ryazan in 1887 ^[38]. In total, the file contains 263 sheets, but some of them are copies of images of objects. A number of cards have typographically printed headings with the name and location of the object, and in some cases, the museum numbers of the objects. Sometimes the numbers on the receipt books are handwritten in ink or pencil. Some of the names and locations of the objects are written on the backs of the cards in pencil. Sometimes the material of manufacture of an object is indicated: "bronze", "copper". The scale is not specified in the figures.

Fig. 2. An example of a card with a drawing of a museum object for the work of A.K. Zhiznevsky (ON TSOM. F. 6. Op. 1. D. 7).

A study of the case file shows that the cards contained in it do not relate to the published work of A.K. Zhiznevsky. These are original images of other items in the collection that are not included in the published work of the founder of the Tver Museum. Among them are pendants, beads, linings, icons, rings, coins from the Middle Ages and early Modern times. These objects are important for characterizing the cultural appearance and chronology of individual archaeological sites of the Upper Volga region.

Among them is a cross pendant depicting a Crucifixion from a burial mound near the Bolshaya Kosha churchyard (Fig. 3:1). It is listed in the museum's book of receipts under the number 6342. The mounds were excavated in 1891, and the items from them were transferred by the author of the excavations, V.I. Vlasov, to the Tver Museum and were known only by textual description ^{[36, l. 289a; 47, p. 9-14]}. The cross was discovered in a female burial along with temple rings, twisted neck grivnas and beads, bracelets, pendants, bells and chains. Similar finds come from the monuments of Russia in the X–XI centuries ^{[24, Table 103: 9; 37, pp. 49-50, Fig. 13: 3]}.

The series of objects is designated as originating from the village of Otmichi. At dd. Dudenevo and Otmichi, Tver district, in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, several kurgan groups were known. The Tver Museum contained many items found not only in eroded mounds, but also, apparently, in layers of settlements ^{[7, p. 83; 30, p. 168-170]}. The cards from the archive file in question depict the details of the waist kit: waist pads, tips and a buckle. The name "Bronze ornament of the kurgan belt" is printed on the cards. The village of Otmichi. Tverskoy uyezd". Museum numbers are not listed on them. The belt tips (Fig. 3: 3, 4) and the plaque of the "heraldic" shape (Fig. 3: 5) are identified with the details of the belt set discovered by the agent of the Tver Museum E.A. Ubozhkov in one of the mounds in 1890. (№№ 5738-5742) ^{[28; 30, pp. 12, 13; 46, pp. 10, 11]}. The buckle with an oval frame (fig. 3:2) and the pentagonal plaque (Fig. 3:6) could belong to the same complex. The belt details under consideration belong to the ancient Russian belts of the "Novgorod" type of the XI century ^{[23, pp. 132-144]} and are completely similar to the belt set from kurgan 165 of the Zalakhtovye burial ground ^{[23, p. 142, Fig. 6; 50, pp. 209-210]}.

The three metal grained beads depicted on one card originate from a burial mound near the village. Prudovo (Mikhaylovo) Bezhetsky district (fig. 3: 7). There is a signature in black ink at the bottom of the card – No. 6962. Under this number, there is one bead in the receipt book "with the image of triangles and rhombuses made up of small circles" ^{[29; 48, p. 14]}. The Tver Museum numbered 6958-6964 finds from the excavations carried out by P.D. Akhlestyshev near the village of Prudovo in 1892 ^[29]. All items: metal beads (5 copies), stucco(?) A pot, an oval fibula (spiral–pointed?), two bead temporal rings and five temporal rings with unclosed ends were found in the only burial under the kurgan embankment investigated by P.D. Akhlestyshev ^{[31, p. 8]}.

The attachment in the form of an animal's fang or claw (Fig. 3: 8) comes from the village of Sknyatino, Kashinsky district. The number of the item and the place of its discovery are determined by the receipt book: 6709. The object entered the museum in 1892 ^[29]. Finds of such pendants are known in Northwestern and Northeastern Russia and date back to the 11th - first half of the 13th century ^{[5, pp. 204-206]}.

Several prints contain photographs and drawings of the coil suspension No. 5937 (Fig. 3: 10). The object was bought by an agent of the Tver Museum, E.A. Ubozhkov, in 1890 in one of the Volga villages near the village of Medveditsky, Kashinsky district ^{[47, pp. 14-15]}. The serpentine has an image of a Crucifixion with the upcoming ones on one side and a stylized serpentine composition on the other. On one side there is a circular inscription with the name Rostislav. There is no complete analogy to the subject. The style of execution of the serpentine composition finds analogies on coils of the XII–XIII centuries ^{[26, pp. 109-110]}. In the village of Medveditskoye (now the Kimrsky district of the Tver region), the settlement of Medveditskoye 1 is known with a cultural layer of the XI–XIII and XIV–XVII centuries ^{[3, pp. 264-265]}.

The pendant with the image of a beast with its head turned back comes from the city of Rzhev (Fig. 3: 9). A detailed description of the object in the museum's documents allows us to establish the number and time of the object's appearance – 6501, 1892 ^[29]. Complete analogies to the decoration come from Jokino, Ryazan region, and Leskovoye, Chernihiv region. They date from the middle of the 12th to the middle of the 13th century ^{[10, pp. 197, 202, fig. 100: 8, 9]}.

In addition to the described finds, the case contains drawings of other objects from the pre-Mongol period: a fragment of a bracelet and a button from the Diaguninsky treasure found in 1893 and preserved in the funds of the TSOM (Fig. 3: 11); a previously published anthropomorphic pendant from Zubtsov ^{[2, p. 172, Fig. 65]}, a vistula seal found in Tver (No. 6874) (fig. 3: 12).

Fig. 3. Drawings of objects of the XI–XIII centuries. from the collection of the Tver Museum in the A.K. Zhiznevsky Foundation (ON THOM. F. 6. Op. 1. D. 7. 1893). 1 – cross; 2 – belt buckle; 3, 4 – belt tips; 5, 6 – belt plaques; 7 – beads; 8-10 – pendants; 11 – the shaped end of the Deguninsky treasure bracelet; 12 – printing; non-ferrous metal.

Several finds date back to the late Middle Ages and Modern Times. A non-ferrous metal plate with an image of a beast inscribed in a square frame was found in Tver on the banks of the Volga River (Fig. 4: 5). It corresponds to No. 6735 of the Tver Museum and is listed among the finds of 1892 ^[29]. The item was probably a part of a handbag headset. A similar plaque was found in the village of Mikulino 7 ^{[14, pp. 305-306, fig. 7:18]}. Images of a beast with a raised tail are found on objects from Tver, Moscow, Novgorod of the XIV–XVI centuries. This plot was popular in the decorative and applied art of Moscow Russia ^{[25, p. 88]}.

The square-shaped non-ferrous metal lining, originating from the Old Age, has a rounded loop on one side. The square panel contains an anthropomorphic image with raised arms, enclosed in a wide frame with a mesh ornament (Fig. 4: 4). Perhaps the pad was part of a book fastener. The item number 4989 is indicated on the card ^[28]. Accordingly, the object belongs to the finds included in the collection of the Tver Museum in 1889 ^{[45, p. 34]}.

The signet ring from the Old Woman, for which No. 6742 is indicated (1892 admission), has a round shield (Fig. 4: 3). On the shield there is an image of a warrior with a spear. These seal rings date back to the XV–XVII centuries. The image of a warrior is widely represented on coins, seals, and in the decorative and applied arts of this time ^[6].

A leaf–shaped pendant depicting a six-winged seraphim on one side and a winged serpent on the other was found in 1889 in Tver, on the left bank of the Volga River, near Trinity Church (No. 4837) ^[28] (Fig. 4:1). Leaf-shaped and rhombic pendants depicting seraphim date back to the XIV-XVI centuries. ^{[43, p. 22, Table VIII: 115-118]}.

A stone cross (the description says "aspid", that is, made of gray-black stone) with the image of the six-winged seraphim No. 6591 was found in 1892 in Tver on the banks of the Volga River "opposite the forest pier" (possibly the territory of Zatmat Posad) ^{[29; 48, pp. 27-28]} (Fig. 4:2). The image of the cross is placed on the upper ray. The hole was apparently drilled into the top of the object. A similar cross comes from Rostov. V.G. Putsko points out the Novgorod stylistic parallels to the subject. The Rostov find is dated abroad to the XIII–XIV centuries ^{[35, p. 236, fig. 1:5]}.

In addition to these items, there are hand-drawn and photographic images of a metal icon with the composition "Abraham's Bosom" from Zubtsov (No. 6994) (Fig. 5), an altarpiece from the Trinity Church across the Volga in Tver, and a fragment of a tile from Tver (No. 6674).

Fig. 4. Drawings of objects of the XIV–XVII centuries. from the collection of the Tver Museum in the A.K. Zhiznevsky Foundation (ON THOM. F. 6. Op. 1. D. 7. 1893). 1 – pendant; 2 – cross; 3 – signet ring (image on the shield); 4, 5 – overlays. 1, 2-5 – non–ferrous metal; 2 - stone.

Fig. 5. A photograph of the icon with the composition "Abraham's Bosom" from Zubtsov (No. 6994) (ON TSOM. F. 6. Op. 1. D. 7. 1893).

As we can see, the identified objects joined the collection of the Tver Museum after the publication of the work of A.K. Zhiznevsky, in 1889-1892. Perhaps the illustrations from the case in question were being prepared for another publication, which would be a continuation of the Description of the Tver Museum. Apparently, August Kazimirovich worked on it, but this work remained unfinished. A.K. Zhiznevsky died in 1896.

The images of objects from the pre-revolutionary collection of the Tver Museum preserved in our museum make it possible to significantly clarify the ideas about the museum's collection. Drawings of numismatic finds located in the archival case under consideration require special study.

Thus, the materials at TSOM are a valuable source not only on the history of the museum itself, but also on the history of medieval culture of the Upper Volga region, funeral rites, costume of the XI–XIII and XIV–XVII centuries. They allow us to get a more accurate idea of the composition of the funds of both the pre-revolutionary and the modern museum in Tver.