Siberia Department of the Russian Geographical Society: Ethnographic Research of the Mongolic Peoples

Introduction. The publication highlights efforts undertaken by Siberia Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (since 1851 — Siberia Department, since 1877 — Eastern Siberia Department) to explore the ethnography of the Mongolic peoples. Despite the available related publications are numerous enough, the topic remains somewhat understudied. Since the creation of Siberia Department, its members had made a great breakthrough in the exploration of Siberia, the latter’s natives, their ethnic histories, ethnogeneses, lifestyles, and cultures. It would be impossible to cover the complete scope of works performed by associates of Siberia Department for comprehensive insights into the ethnography of Mongols. Goals. So, the paper attempts a review of scientific endeavors by Siberia Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society aimed at ethnographic descriptions of the Mongolic peoples. The Department also contributed a lot to the ethnographic study of the peoples inhabiting regions neighboring with Russia, including the ones populated by Mongolic ethnic groups. The article identifies key directions of research work, significances of writings by the Department’s members for ethnographic research of Mongols, mentions important periods in the history of the Department, and shows who played critical roles in establishing trends within the exploration agenda. Methods. The study rests on the system of principles, approaches and methods inherent to historical science, including both general (analysis, synthesis, description, etc.) and special (descriptive, comparative-historical, etc.) ones. Conclusions. Despite the difficulties faced by researchers affiliated to Eastern Siberia Department when it came to investigate household life and ethnic culture, their activities yielded essential scientific findings, facilitated further historical and ethnographic analyses of the Mongolic peoples. The original artifacts collected by the Department’s members would lay bases for museum collections, their studies still remaining as unique and required by present-day scholars.

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