New branches of economy on the Taz River in the second half of the 1940s - early 1960s, on the materials of the manuscript E. D. Prokofieva

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-3-944-959

For citation

Stepanova, Olga B. (2025). New branches of economy on the Taz River in the second half of the 1940s - early 1960s, on the materials of the manuscript E. D. Prokofieva, Herald of an Archivist, № 3, pp. 944-959, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-3-944-959

Stepanova, Olga B., Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), St. Petersburg, Russia

New branches of economy on the Taz River in the second half of the 1940s - early 1960s, on the materials of the manuscript E. D. Prokofieva

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the formation of new industries in the Krasnoselkupsky district of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in the postwar period (1946-1961). None of the scientific publications has yet considered the topic of the development of new industries taking into account the specifics of this particular district in detail, which is its scientific significance and novelty. The relevance of the research lies in the transfer of the historical economic experience to the current leadership of the district and Krasnoselkup district in the study of the district and Selkup history (the district is a place of compact residence of the northern Selkup ethnic group), which attracts the attention of not only historians and Selkupologists, but also many residents of the district and the district. The research objectives were to examine the chapter “New branches of economy: fur farming, field farming, animal husbandry, forestry” from the unpublished monograph of the Siberian ethnographer E. D. Prokofieva with the working title “Selkups”, which is stored in the archives of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The chapter contains materials that E. D. Prokofieva collected during her expeditions to the northern Selkups in 1925-1928 and 1962. The manuscript was studied by E. D. Prokofieva. D. Prokofieva's manuscript was analyzed by means of analysis, comparative-historical method and description. The following conclusions were made as a result of the study. In the period from the mid-1940s to the early 1960s, four new industries - crop farming, animal husbandry, animal husbandry and logging - emerged in the Krasnoselkupsky District and, having overcome considerable difficulties and having gone through recessions and upswings, gained a foothold in the district economic complex. There was an “urgent need” to develop these industries, which solved the problems of providing the district with food, transportation, construction timber and firewood, as well as filling the district budget with revenues. By the end of the first fifteen years of their existence, the young industries had accomplished most of their tasks. In each of the new areas of the district economy, sufficient experience was accumulated for stable operation in the next three decades. The strong foundation laid helped three out of four industries to withstand the economic crisis of the 1990s and, having survived the reconstruction, to continue to successfully implement the plans of their founders. The district management did not reconstruct the fur farming industry, as global trends in this sphere of economic activity have changed. E. D. Prokofieva's manuscript contains valuable factual material and introduces a new source on the history and ethnography of the peoples of Siberia.

Keywords

Northern Selkups, socialist reconstruction of the economy, new branches of economy, plant growing, animal breeding, fur farming, logging, historical source.

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About authors

Stepanova Olga B., PhD in History Sciences, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Ethnography of the Peoples of Siberia, Senior Researcher, St. Petersburg, Russia, +7-911-999-32-92, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ORCID 0000-0002-2130-2695

The article was received in the editorial office on 16.02.2024, recommended for publication on 20.06.2025