Participation of VOOPIK in the preservation and popularization of industrial heritage monuments through a network of industrial museums in Izhevsk in the 1980s.

Lakhtionova Elizaveta Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0002-8414-4540 PhD in History Associate Professor; Doctoral student; Department of Russian History; Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin 620034, Russia, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, Opalikhinskaya str., 16, sq. 109 elza1982@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Industrial heritage, on the one hand, is "a part of the material cultural heritage, a set of buildings, artifacts produced by society using labor, which are considered important enough to preserve them for future generations" ^{[3, p. 79]}. On the other hand, it includes an intangible component: "a well-developed system for the development and transfer of special (engineering) knowledge; a peculiar mentality of the Urals; a reflection of their identity in everyday life and artistic creativity" ^{[1, p. 23]}.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the concept of "industrial heritage" in its modern sense did not yet exist. Monuments of industrial heritage could be understood as monuments of industrial architecture, monuments of the history of science and technology, monuments of the labor glory of the Soviet people ^[10]. However, already in this period of time, the public's desire to preserve these categories of monuments is emerging: objects of industrial activity that later formed the core of our country's industrial heritage.

The reconstruction of the activities of Udmurt actors, including the All—Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (hereinafter - VOOPIK), to preserve two unique monuments of Izhevsk's industrial heritage in the 1960s and 1980s has already been presented by the author in a separate publication ^[8].

The purpose of this study is to assess the degree of participation of VOOPIC in the preservation and popularization of monuments of Izhevsk's domestic industrial heritage in the 1980s through a network of industrial museums.

For this purpose, mainly archival materials preserved in the funds of the Central State Archive of the Udmurt Republic and its branch, the State Archive of Socio–Political History, were used: administrative documentation, reports and minutes of meetings of the section of monuments of science and technology and the propaganda section of the republican branch of the VOOPIK.

During the research, both general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, induction, proof) and specifically historical (problem-chronological, historical-typological) were used.

The relevance of the research topic is determined by the important role that industrial (now corporate) museums have played and continue to play for the preservation and popularization of industrial heritage. Take, for example, the Severskaya Domna Museum Complex in Polevskoy (Sverdlovsk region). Back in the 1960s and 1980s, members of the public fiercely fought for the preservation of the unique blast furnace at the Seversky Pipe Plant in the form of a museum ^[9], and in the 2010s, the factory museum, then preserved, was transformed into a corporate museum, which became a vivid example of the successful activities of the management of a private company to preserve the domestic industrial heritage ^[15].

Industrial museums (or museums attached to industrial enterprises) were initially formed as cabinets of samples of the company's products, and as historical material accumulated, they became full-fledged museums characterizing the development of a particular industry ^{[7, p. 119]}. In another way, these museums were called factory museums, or museums of labor and military glory.

Many scientists who have studied specific museums at factories and industrial enterprises in the Urals have written about the possibilities of using industrial museums to preserve and popularize industrial heritage sites ^{[2, pp. 269-271, 343-345; 13; 16]}. Regarding Udmurtia, O. A. Kazantseva deals with this in the most detail, analyzing the possibilities and resources of factory museums to preserve the historical and cultural, including industrial, heritage of the republic ^{[4; 5; 6]}.

In Izhevsk, one of the most important and oldest industrial museums in which objects of industrial heritage were preserved and displayed is the Museum of JSC NPO Izhmash (opened in 1827), the Museum of Military and Labor Glory of JSC Izhstal (founded in 1967), the Museum of the History of FGUP Izhevsk Mechanical Plant (opened in 1972), the Museum of the History of Izhevsk Automobile Plant (opened in 1983). The collections and expositions of these museums contain material sources, unique documents reflecting the development of a particular branch of the national economy, achievements of national science and technology, the glorious history of the activities of factory teams of Udmurtia and the USSR. These museums also feature samples and models of outdated equipment, undoubtedly forming the basis of the national industrial heritage.

The Udmurt Republican branch of the VOOPIK, and especially the section of monuments of science and technology formed in its composition in the early 1980s, had a certain influence on the formation of funds and expositions of Izhevsk factory museums. At that time, great attention was paid in the RSFSR to the identification, study and preservation of this category of monuments, which can include monuments of industrial heritage. In this regard, various methodological recommendations have been prepared ^{[11; 12; 14]} concerning the activities of government agencies, public organizations, scientific and educational institutions in relation to this category of monuments. These materials were then distributed to the regions, including the Izhevsk factory and branch museums ^{[19, l. 5]}.

The participation of the Udmurt Republican branch of the VOOPIK in the preservation and popularization of industrial heritage sites through industrial museums was expressed in the following directions.

First, since 1982, surveys have been conducted of the existing expositions and collections of factory and branch museums in Izhevsk and other cities of the Udmurt ASSR for the presence and representation of monuments of science and technology in them ^{[20, l. 7]}. For this purpose, the help of factory workers and museum staff was involved. For example, in 1987-1988, members of the section of monuments of science and technology of the VOOPIK examined the Izhevsk Metallurgical Plant for this purpose and found samples of the first grades of metal, models of the first crucible and blast furnaces, photographs of the crankshaft of the aircraft on which V. P. Chkalov made his legendary flight. Unfortunately, the shaft itself was missing ^{[20, l. 30]}. And in the Museum of the Izhmash Production association, the first models of motorcycles, machine tools, and models of operating machines dating back to 1809, 1811, and 1815 have been preserved ^{[18, l. 27]}

Secondly, participation in the renovation of exhibitions, for example, on the territory of the Izhstal Museum. So, visiting the 1987 exhibition "Development of Production", Candidate of Historical Sciences, Deputy Chairman of the section of monuments of Science and Technology A. A. Alexandrov noted: "The design is good, many monuments of science and technology are represented in the exhibition. But it should be noted that it catches the eye: there are fewer exhibits than 10 years ago. The layout for continuous casting of steel is missing. There is almost nothing on tool production, but they were. There are inaccuracies in the material. Prototyping is an important tool in preserving the history of production development. The museum should pay attention to this" ^{[20, l. 30-31]}. In this regard, it was decided to help the museum in updating this exhibition, in discussing the concept of which the members of the section of monuments of science and technology of the republican branch of the VOOPIK were most active: V. A. Mochalov (chairman of the section), A. A. Alexandrov (deputy Chairman), V. M. Novichok (member of the section) A. A. Nazarova (member section), L. V. Zavarzina (instructor of the republican branch of the VOOPIK) ^{[19, L. 5-6]}. Moreover, the task of this exposition was not only to demonstrate models of old equipment, crucibles, pieces of precious metal, for example, but also to provide visitors with information about inventors, scientists, and specialists who contributed to the development of metallurgy and metallurgical production: A. G. Dubnitsky, M. A. Pavlov, V. S. Tarasov, and I. A. Ostroushko ^{[19, L. 6]}.

Thirdly, the provision of methodological assistance and support to employees of factory museums in the formation of funds and the construction of exhibitions. For this purpose, members of the section of monuments of science and technology of the republican branch of the VOOPIK prepared and distributed in 1987 a special memo-recommendation on the identification and accounting of monuments of science and technology among the city, industrial and branch museums of Izhevsk ^{[17, l. 1-7]}.

Fourthly, the involvement of schoolchildren and students in industrial museums, which contributed to the popularization of knowledge about the history of production, successes in the development of domestic science and technology, and the actors of this success. For example, A. A. Alexandrov, who was an associate professor at Udmurt State University and taught a course on the history of science and technology, regularly took university students on excursions to the Izhstal Museum in order to become practically familiar with production processes ^{[18, p. 79]}. The expositions of this museum and the Izhmash Museum were also actively visited by schoolchildren. This was closely monitored by the propaganda section of the republican branch of the VOOPIK, whose reports noted that schoolchildren were "keenly interested in monuments of science and technology, history and culture" ^{[18, l. 26]}. In order to spread knowledge about industrial achievements, maintain the prestige and high status of the worker's profession, meetings were held on the territory of factory museums with workers' dynasties, war and labor veterans, delegates to congresses, and an annual reception was organized at the Komsomol ^{[18, p. 26]}. In this sense, the factory's territory was used not only as "an unnamed temporary functional volume, but as an expression of people's ideas about work of a certain period." All this contributed to filling familiar factory spaces with new meaning ^{[2, p. 355]}.

Fifth, assistance to the Izhevsk city tour desk in developing tourist routes to places associated with monuments of science and technology, including industrial museums ^{[18, l. 90]}.

Thus, despite the fact that in the 1980s the concept of "industrial heritage" in its modern sense had not yet been formulated, monuments of this type of historical and cultural heritage were abundantly present on the territory of factories, and were called monuments of science and technology. The role of the Udmurt Republican branch of the VOOPIK in the identification, preservation and popularization of industrial heritage was quite significant and diverse ^[8], including through assistance to industrial museums. The areas of this assistance consisted of regular activities: from providing methodological support to including museums and their expositions in tourist routes. The value was that the help was provided by motivated people from among the specialists: researchers and museum staff, teachers and scientists, fans of their field, such as A. A. Alexandrov or E. F. Shumilov.