Sbornik materialov dlya opisaniya mestnostey i plemen Kavkaza

Sbornik materialov dlya opisaniya mestnostey i plemen Kavkaza, commonly abbreviated as SMOMPK, was a large-scale Orientalist and regional studies journal published primarily in Tbilisi from 1881 through the early twentieth century. Its title can be translated as Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasus. The publication was associated with the Office of the Caucasian Educational District and was intended to gather systematic documentary material about the Caucasus, a region whose languages, communities, historical traditions, and local geography were of growing interest to imperial administrators, teachers, philologists, archaeologists, and ethnographers. The collection covered an unusually broad range of subjects. Its volumes included descriptions of villages and towns, local historical essays, archaeological observations, linguistic records, dictionaries, folklore, songs, legends, and accounts of everyday life and crafts. Materials concerned numerous Caucasian communities, including Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Ossetians, Mountain Jews, Svans, Udis, and other peoples. Caucasian languages and oral traditions received particular attention: the publication preserved texts and vocabulary, narratives concerning the Narts, ritual and everyday songs, and other materials that documented forms of expression that were often transmitted orally. The journal’s contributors were largely teachers and educators working in Caucasian schools and gymnasiums. They collected material locally and supplied descriptions, transcriptions, translations, and observations from the communities among which they lived and worked. This educational network gave the series a wide geographic reach and helped connect local documentation with the scholarly institutions of the Russian Empire. From 1893 to 1915, the volumes appeared with a preface by Lev Lopatinsky, who was closely associated with the editorial presentation of the collection. Kirill Yanovsky, trustee of the Caucasian Educational District, was responsible for the publication from its beginning in 1881. The scientific importance of the collection was recognized during its publication. In 1893, Professor Vsevolod Miller discussed its value in extensive reviews in the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. The collection’s enduring importance lies less in a commercial identity than in its function as a documentary archive. It preserves historical, linguistic, ethnographic, and folkloric evidence about the Caucasus, while also reflecting the scholarly and administrative viewpoints of the late Russian imperial period. The main run was printed in Tbilisi at the printing house of the Main Directorate of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. Publication continued approximately once or twice a year as sufficient material accumulated. The series was interrupted by the First World War: regular publication ran through 1915, after which the war prevented further issues for several years. A later revival was organized through North Caucasian mountain local-lore organizations in Makhachkala. Issue 45 appeared in 1926 and issue 46 in 1929. The series is therefore generally associated with 1881–1926, while the final documented issue extended the publication history to 1929. It is no longer an active journal, but its multi-volume contents remain valuable to researchers of Caucasian history, ethnography, folklore, archaeology, and linguistics.

The Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasus was established in 1881 as a publication of the Office of the Caucasian Educational District. Its principal institutional base was Tbilisi, then a major administrative and cultural center of the Caucasus within the Russian Empire. Kirill Yanovsky, trustee of the educational district, was responsible for the publication from its outset. Rather than functioning as a narrowly specialized journal, the series gathered a wide body of source material on the region’s peoples, settlements, languages, historical traditions, and material culture. Much of the collection was assembled by teachers working in local Caucasian schools and gymnasiums. These contributors recorded information in the places where they lived and taught, producing descriptions of villages and cities, accounts of local history, observations on crafts and daily life, and documentation of customs. The educational background of many contributors gave the publication a practical network for collecting regional information, while the scope of the series placed these local observations within the broader traditions of Orientalist scholarship, ethnography, philology, archaeology, and historical research. The contents included dictionaries and texts in Caucasian languages, legends concerning the Narts, Russian and foreign songs, and materials relating to the lives and customs of Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Ossetians, Mountain Jews, Svans, Udis, and other communities. Historical, lyrical, ritual, and everyday songs were treated as evidence of language, memory, and social life. The publication also preserved descriptions of writing systems, folklore, settlement patterns, occupations, and local customs. In this respect, it served both as a scholarly journal and as an archive of cultural documentation. The collection was printed in Tbilisi by the printing house of the Main Directorate of the Viceroy of the Caucasus. The frequency of publication varied because new issues were produced as material accumulated, generally at a rate of approximately one or two issues per year. From 1893 to 1915, the volumes carried a preface by Lev Lopatinsky. The work’s academic value received prominent recognition in 1893, when Vsevolod Miller published extensive reviews in the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education. The main Tbilisi run continued until 1915. Publication was then halted in the context of the First World War. The series was not immediately revived, but North Caucasian mountain local-lore organizations later enabled a continuation in Makhachkala. Issue 45 appeared in 1926, followed by issue 46 in 1929. These later issues extend the publication history beyond the commonly cited 1881–1926 period. After the final known issue, the journal ceased to operate as a continuing publication. Today, the series is principally important as a historical source. Its records can support research into Caucasian ethnography, historical geography, linguistics, folklore, archaeology, education, and imperial knowledge production. Its descriptions must also be read in relation to the institutional and political setting in which they were produced: the late Russian imperial educational administration and the post-imperial local-lore organizations that helped restore publication in the 1920s.

• 1929

  Final documented issue

  [1]Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasusen.wikipedia.org

  Issue 46 is published, extending the documented publication history to 1929.

• 1926

  Issue 45 appears in Makhachkala

  [1]Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasusen.wikipedia.org

  North Caucasian mountain local-lore organizations help resume the series, leading to publication of issue 45 in Makhachkala.

• 1915

  Regular Tbilisi publication is interrupted

  [1]Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasusen.wikipedia.org

  The regular run of the journal in Tbilisi stops during the First World War.

• 1893

  Scholarly recognition and Lopatinsky prefaces

  [1]Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasusen.wikipedia.org

  Vsevolod Miller publishes extensive reviews recognizing the collection’s scientific value, while volumes begin appearing with prefaces by Lev Lopatinsky.

• 1881

  Publication begins in Tbilisi

  [1]Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasusen.wikipedia.org

  The Office of the Caucasian Educational District begins publishing the collection in Tbilisi under the responsibility of trustee Kirill Yanovsky.

A regional scholarly reference series combining educational documentation, Orientalist research, ethnography, linguistics, archaeology, folklore, and local history of the Caucasus.

• Academic journal · 1881

  SMOMPK multi-volume journal

  The principal offering was a multi-volume regional studies journal devoted to the Caucasus. Its issues combined historical essays, archaeological observations, village and city descriptions, ethnographic accounts, linguistic documentation, dictionaries, folklore, songs, legends, and records of local crafts and customs. The series drew heavily on material collected by teachers and other local researchers.

• Journal issue · 1926

  Issue 45

  The forty-fifth issue represented the postwar revival of the collection in Makhachkala. It was produced with the participation of North Caucasian mountain local-lore organizations after regular publication in Tbilisi had been interrupted by the First World War.

• Journal issue · 1929

  Issue 46

  Issue 46 was the final documented issue of the collection. Its appearance in 1929 marks the last known continuation of a series that had originated in the educational and scholarly institutions of late imperial Tbilisi.

1. 1Collection of the Materials for Description of Places and Tribes of the Caucasusen.wikipedia.org