Ural Archaeography Today: Research Issues

In 2024, the Ural Archaeographic Centre, which exists at the Faculty of History of UrFU, is to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It began with the organisation of archaeographic expeditions and the creation of the Laboratory of Archaeographic Studies to conduct these expeditions, store, and study the collected works of Cyrillic writing. The activities of the laboratory laid the foundation for the creation of the Ural School of Archaeography. Many generations of students have passed through it, acquiring additional knowledge beyond the limits of university curricula. Some of these students have turned academic work into their profession. The expedition ceased to operate in 2003 due to changes in the social situation, but the laboratory continued its activities, focusing on the study of the fund of book artefacts of the Cyrillic tradition, collected over 30 years of fieldwork and comprising some 6,000 items. Currently, the LAS is a research, scholarly, methodological, and educational centre in the field of archaeography and, more broadly, the history of traditional spiritual culture of Russians, paying special attention to its Ural specificity. In connection with the anniversary, this article provides an overview of the main areas of scholarly research and the most significant publications of the LAS team over ten years, from 2013 to 2023. The main source base for the research of the LAS staff is its own fund of works in Cyrillic script. The publications are divided into two blocks. One of them includes studies of handwritten heritage, including multidimensional analysis and publication of manuscripts, study of the history of Cyrillic book printing, and scholarly description of funds. The other includes studies of the history and culture of the Old Believers as guardians and successors of the ancient Russian book tradition in modern and contemporary times.