UDK 94(470.345).084.6«1936/1937»

 

EDN ECJTIY

 

Original article

 

Pushkin Days in Mordovia (1936 — 1937): historical aspect

 

Naumov E. O.

 

Abstraсt

The course of preparation and holding of events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of Aleksandr S. Pushkin is analyzed in the article based on the example of Mordovia. Despite the fact that the main memorable date was February 10, 1937, theme nights started in the second half of 1936 and lasted until the spring of the other year. The sources for the study were the newspaper “Krasnaya Mordoviya” and documents from the Central State Archive of the Republic of Mordovia (CSA RM). The study of those documents was done using general scientific (analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction) and historical (descriptive, historical-genetic, historical-comparative, historical-systemic) methods. As a result of the work, the following conclusions were made. First of all, the scale of planned and implemented events was noted, in which the population of the young republic of almost all ages and social groups took part. Secondly, the main type of anniversary events in schools, libraries, clubs and factories were Pushkin Nights, which consisted of making reports on the life and work of the poet, reciting poetry, singing songs, setting up scenes, etc. In addition, reading and drawing contests, as well as exhibitions were organized. Although, the republican leadership could hardly cope with the solution of a large number of tasks, as a result of which a significant part of the work was made by amateur clubs, the main goal of the anniversary was achieved. Practically at one moment, A. S. Pushkin, who had not previously fit into the Soviet cultural and ideological scheme, took the first place in it.

 

Keywords: Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin, Pushkin Days, Pushkin Night, Republican Pushkin Committee, “Krasnaya Mordoviya”, Central Republican Library, schools, contests, exhibitions, Mordovian State Publishing House, Boldino, Pushkin Rooms

 

For citation: Naumov EO. Pushkin Days in Mordovia (1936 — 1937): historical aspect. Center and Periphery. 2024;19(2):8—20. EDN ECJTIY

 

Information about the author:

Evgeny O. Naumov, Senior Researcher of Department of History of the Research Institute of the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia (3 L. Tolstogo Str., Saransk 430005, Russia), Candidate of Historical Sciences, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5808-4022, naumoveo@mail.ru

 

Conflict of interests: the author declares no conflict of interests.

 

The author has read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

 

The article was submitted 01.04.2024; approved after reviewing 30.04.2024; accepted for publication 04.05.2024.