B.S. Zhukov’s Letters to M.V. Voyevodsky (1925–1929)

Abstract

B.S. Zhukov’s letters belong to the period of his most productive scientific, pedagogical and administrative activity. Five letters and two postcards were addressed to M.V. Voyevodsky in 1925–1929. Zhukov appears in them as the head of the Vetluga and Anthropological complex expedition and as a leader of the unique scientific team – the Paleo-ethnological laboratory of the Institute of Anthropology of the 1 MSU (Moscow State University). The correspondence reveals ins and outs of Zhukov's own studies, his students and specialists research, the manner and style of Boris Sergeyevich's leadership and communication with his subordinates. Zhukov, organized and demanding to himself, is in the same measure strict with colleagues if it concerns their common cause. His letters to Voyevodsky are an important documentary source for the history of the Moscow Paleo-ethnological school of the 1920s. They acquaint us with the organization of its expedition, cameral and scientific work, the results of excavations on Vetluga River, in the basins of the Oka and Upper Volga, news from Zhukov's official journey to Gelendzhik and even to Germany.

Keywords

• archaeology
• b.s. zhukov
• m.v. voyevodsky
• correspondence
• vetluga and anthropological complex expeditions
• institute and museum of anthropology of moscow state university