The Collection of Photographic Negatives of the Samarkand State Museum-Reserve as a Historical Source and an Object of Musealization

This article examines the collection of photographic negatives preserved in the Samarkand State Museum-Reserve as an independent body of visual historical sources. Based on the museum’s inventory records of photographic negatives, the study analyzes their thematic composition, source value, and potential for use in researching the history of Samarkand and Uzbekistan. Particular attention is paid to photographic negatives depicting traditional urban architecture, architectural monuments, museum exhibitions, theatrical culture, the education system, Soviet everyday life, political culture, and historical memory. The article also addresses the musealization of photographic negatives, including their registration, attribution, conservation, cataloguing, digitization, exhibition, and integration into scholarly circulation. Furthermore, contemporary approaches to the use of photographic negatives from the Samarkand Museum-Reserve in online publications, exhibition projects, and digitization initiatives are considered.