SUMMARY:

Introduction to the archival publication (correspondence of Semen An-sky and Baron Gintsburg) by Irina Sergeeva explores the historical context for the ethnographic expeditions by An-sky, which are at the main focus of the published documents. The introduction traces An-sky’s biography as a typical life of a Russian Jewish intellectual, whose socialization into Russian culture led to transplantation of categories of Russian culture and politics onto the life of the Jewish “street” in the Pale. The hallmarks of this experience – traditional Jewish upbringing and education, participation in the revolutionary and populist movement, teaching in a village, emigration with its immersion into social and political problems of Western Europe – formed the background for the crystallization of An-sky’s views. An-sky’s ideas on the Jewish people were informed to a large extent by the prevailing ideology of Russian Romantic populism and logically and naturally combined with the national project of Diaspora nationalism by Simon Dubnow. The introduction also provides detailed information on ethnographic expeditions led by An-sky in 1912-1914, including fundraising and planning, as well as on his scholarly and societal activities in this period.
The archival publication presents for the first time correspondence between Semen An-sky and Baron Vladimir Gintsburg. This correspondence gives insight into the preparatory work for An-sky’s ethnographic expedition as well as into the intellectual milieu of the Russian Jewish intelligentsia at the turn of the century. Gintsburg and An-sky discussed technical details of An-sky’s led ethnographic expeditions, fundraising and finances, An-sky’s literary and scholarly work, and organizational efforts among supporters of An-sky’s research into Jewish culture.