Repositories of Zabaykalsky Krai and Buryatia: Examining Collections of Rare Mongolian-Language Christian Editions

Introduction. The paper examines collections of rare Mongolian-language Christian editions housed at depositories of Zabaykalsky Krai and Buryatia. Goals. The study attempts a socioarchaeographic analysis of the mentioned collections at the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (SB RAS) and the Kuznetsov Zabaykalsky Krai Museum of Local History and Lore. Materials and methods. In terms of methodology, the work rests on ‘cognitive history’ and some aspects of historical phenomenology. The paper assumes a content analysis of the collections be instrumental both in identifying Christian Buryat readers’ queries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in revealing specificities of missionary activity among Mongolic peoples in pre-revolutionary Russia. Conclusions. The content analysis of the two collections shows Transbaikalia was witnessing a specific cooperation between Protestant and Orthodox Christian missions. Personal libraries of Buryat Christians were largely compiled from Mongolian translations of the Bible funded mainly by the Protestant missions. The study attests to that the most promising missionary activity among Buryats (and Mongols at large) — dissemination of Christianity via primary education — was not supported by representatives of the missions. Our insights into the history of the collections show that results of Christian missionary translation activities aroused interest of Buryat Buddhists, and the latter tended to include such biblical translations into their libraries. Due to linguistic and historical circumstances, the Russian collections of Mongolian-language Christian publications have remained virtually unattended — both in terms of bibliographic description and scholarly research — for a long time. However, territorial, manufacturing and historical circumstances make the examined editions essentially unique. Our content analysis confirms there is a need for such investigations to reveal a coherent agenda of religious publications once used for the development of Christianity within Mongolian culture.

1. Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (SB RAS); Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs, Mongolian Collection.

2. Kuznetsov Zabaykalsky Krai Museum of Local History and Lore, Book Collection.

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