News
20/02/2025. Cultural and Scientific Heritage of Karelia: Continuity of Tradition. The library hosted the Local Studies Days conference 2025
February 19 – 20, 2025:
The National Library of Karelia hosted the XIX scientific conference Local Studies Days 2025. The theme of the conference was Cultural and Scientific Heritage of Karelia: Continuity of Tradition.
The organizers of the conference: the National Library of Karelia, the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Karelian Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
During the two days of the conference, these sections worked.
- Preservation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of Karelia: Local Initiatives;
- Biographical Research: Personality in Archival Documents;
- Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of Karelia in the context of the Development of the Region;
- Scientific Heritage of Karelia: Contribution of Institutions and Teams;
- Archives, Libraries, Museums as the Heritage’s Keepers;
- Soviet Heritage: History and Culture;
- Memory of a Place as a Living Heritage.
At the plenary session of the conference, Elena Itsikson, Karelian architect and local historian, presented her report The House of the Mining Chief - a Witness to the History of Petrozavodsk. Olga Ilyukha, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented her report A Regional School Textbook as an Object of Cultural Heritage.
On the first day of the conference, participants from Petrozavodsk and Karelia discussed biographical research, preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of Karelia, and traditions of indigenous peoples in Karelia. The presentations in the sections told about outstanding figures in Karelian science. The presentation by Irina Novak, Director of the Institute of Language, Literature, and History, was dedicated to the contribution of Dmitry Bubrikh to the creation of the Baltic-Finnish linguistic school of Karelia. Tatyana Boyko, Researcher at the Institute of Language, Literature, and History, presented a report dedicated to Karelian linguists and their contribution to the development of Baltic-Finnish linguistics.
On February 20, the conference continued its work. Reports concerned the work of archives, libraries, and museums. A separate section was devoted to the Soviet heritage of Karelia. At the section Memory of a Place as a Living Heritage a report was presented by Ramziya Galeeva, Researcher at the Museum of the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (Yekaterinburg), dedicated to the history of the residence of B.N. Yeltsin in Shuyskaya Chupa.
The final plenary session took place in the afternoon of February 20. Alexander Krivonozhenko, Researcher at the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Historical Sciences, presented a report entitled Mills as a Material Heritage of Karelia’s Peasants: Experience of Study and Popularization.
During the conference, a book exhibition New Books about Karelia was held, where local history publications published in 2024 were presented.
According to a tradition, the conference combined local and remote participation. A live broadcast of the conference was organized for all those interested. The reports presented at the conference did not go unnoticed, both online and on the premises of the National Library.
Conference participants and section heads noted the successful compilation of the program, within the framework of which active discussions and debates on the stated topics took place.
Participants' reports will be published electronically (with the consent of the author). The materials of previous conferences can be found on the website of the National Library of Karelia. It is worth noting that these publications are of constant interest to a wide readership.
