Подготовка советскими учеными «Географии СССР» во второй половине 1930-х — первой половине 1940-х гг.: планы, проблемы реализации и судьба проекта

Известия Уральского федерального университета. Серия 2: Гуманитарные науки. 2026. Т. 28. № 1. С. 234–249.

Собисевич А. В., Kholmatov T.

Based on documentation sources from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and memoirs written by N. N. Baranskii, the paper reconstructs the scientific and organizational activities of researchers in the preparation of the collective multi-volume project “Geography of the USSR”. This research analyzes the prerequisites of the project creation by the mid-1930s, when there was a growing need to create a generalized research. It was important to demonstrate the achievements of Soviet geographical science abroad on the one hand, as well as to disseminate geographical knowledge inside the country on the other hand. Taking into account the need to attract significant finances and personnel for the implementation of potential multi-volume work, this part also examines the institutional aspects of project preparation. One of the central places in this paper is the consideration of the progress of work on the “Geography of the USSR”, the plan and the financial obstacles related the implementation of the project, as well as disagreements between scholars involved in the preparation of the collective work. In the final part there are noted the reasons for the unrealization of the project in the late 1930s – early 1940s. These reasons were related both to the repression against the project management and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the work of the Institute of Geography was concentrated on research necessary for the needs of the front. There is also considered the connection of this project with post-war editions of the geographical description of the USSR.

Keywords: история науки, история географии