Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography - Institutional History

Institutional History

The Institute was established in the Soviet Union by the amalgamation of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE) and the Institute for the Study of Ethnic Groups of the USSR (IPIN) in autumn 1933.

Its first director was Nikolay Matorin. On 23 December 1933 he was dismissed by the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of USSR and replaced by Ivan Meshchaninov on 1 January 1934.

On 25 January 1935, the IAE was transformed into the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography. Meshchaninov remained director until this organisation was in turn dissolved in 1937.

On 11 February 1937, the Institute was restructured with sections being replaced by several departments or cabinets:

• Europe and the Caucasus, headed by Dmitrii Zelenin
• Siberia and Western Central Asia, headed by Y. P. Koshkin;
• East and South Asia, headed by Nikolay Kyuner;
• Africa, America, Australia and Oceania, headed by Isaak Vinnikov;
• Archaeology, headed by P. P. Efimenko;
• Folklore, headed by Mark Azadovsky;
• History of Religion, headed by Yury Frantsev.

The Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography was set up as separate part of the institute under the directorship of Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge. It consisted of various departments:

• Europe, Caucasus and Western Central Asia, headed by Nikolai Kislyakov;
• Siberia, headed by V. N. Chernetsov;
• India, Indonesia, and the Far East, headed by [Nikolay Kyuner;
• The Early Stage of the Primeval Society, Australia and Oceania, headed by Isaak Vinnikov;
• North, Central and South America, headed by S. A. Sternberg;
• Africa, headed by Dmitrii Alekseevich Olderogge;
• Archaeology, headed by S. N. Zamyatnin;
• Physical Anthropology, headed by B. N. Vishnevskii.

On August 5, 1937, the Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography was renamed the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography.