The article analyzes a collection of minerals and rocks compiled in 1911 in Yekaterinburg city in the mineralogical workshop of the Commission for the Dissemination of Natural Science Knowledge of the Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers, stored in the Museum of Scientific Heritage (Ulan-Ude city). It includes both material (stone samples) and written sources (handwritten and printed). It contains information on the history of science, education and museum work in our country in the first decades of the 20th century. The collection was compiled according to J.D. Dana’s mineralogical systematics, typical for museum practice of that period. Its geography covers mainly the Southern Urals, but individual samples were collected in other regions of the Russian Empire.
The collection box contains its catalog, as well as scraps of the newspaper “Russkoye Slovo” and a fragment of a note of 1911, confirming the dating of the collection. The autograph on the catalogue belongs to Nadezhda O. Sharakshinova, a famous folklorist, through whose family the collection came to Buryatia. A second autograph was presumably left by the Yekaterinburg merchant Pyotr I. Yarinsky (~1868–?).
The educational mineral collections of the Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers were in demand by educational institutions across the country in the first decades of the 20th century. This activity is presented in sufficient detail in archival documents and research works. However, very few such educational aids have survived in museum collections. For the Museum of Scientific Heritage, the collection is an opportunity to expand the mineral diversity and geography of its collection; a document that stands out for its historical, scientific and memorial value.

The article presents the main stages of the scientific path of Ivan A. Heim (Bernhard Andreas von Heim, 1758–1821), a representative of the German academic society, who moved to Russia in 1779 and held the position of the rector of Moscow University from 1808 to 1819. I.A. Heim’s scientific heritage in the field of linguistics, geography and statistics is considered. The great merits of I.A. Heim in the organization of evacuation of Moscow University during the Patriotic War of 1812 and its subsequent restoration are shown.

This article continues a series of publications devoted to the photographs from the collection made up by D.N. Anuchin at the turn of the 20th century. Nowadays the collection is stored in the MSU Earth Science Museum. Finland at the end of the 19th century is in focus this time, namely Helsingfors (Helsinki) and the Imatra Rapids. The photographs were taken by Daniel Nyblin (1856-1923), one of the most significant photographers in the history of Finland, “the father of the Finnish photographic art.” His works are considered to be of great artistic and historical value. Old photographs serve as an introduction to Finland at the end of the 19th century, including its wildlife, history and culture. Yet, Daniel Nyblin is little known in Russia. This article is to bridge the gap. The article also covers the contribution of D.N. Anuchin in the study of both Finno-Ugric peoples and Finland. This issue has not been addressed in Russian scientific literature.

To mark the 160^th anniversary of V.I. Vernadsky's birth, Lomonosov Moscow State University has organized an exhibition based on the theme of “living matter”, which to a greater or lesser extent permeates all the geospheres of our planet, provides many mechanisms of interaction between the geospheres and links between the planet and the cosmos. Natural exhibits demonstrate peculiarities of the geochemical transformation of individual organisms and their communities during the transition from the biosphere to the lithosphere, the diversity of biocosmic bodies in the history of our planet, the possibilities of modern sciences in reconstructing geobiosystems of the past. The structure of the exhibition includes a number of special blocks containing original exhibits and information, namely: “Scientist’s Cabinet” with information about the life path, scientific directions and some students and followers of Academician V.I. Vernadsky (connected to him through Moscow University). The cluster “Co-evolution of the Biosphere and Lithosphere” with disclosure of the mechanisms of transition of living matter and integral ecosystems into the “stone record” of the Earth, the structure of the pedosphere in a broad sense, the diversity of biogeoprocesses and their products in the history of the Earth, the formation of “archives of nature” in the geospheres, the functioning of geobiodynamically active zones on the example of the East European Platform; the cluster “University’s Lukomorye”, reflecting peculiarities of coastal geo-ecosystems for the general public (on the example of the Paleocene of the Volga region). Most of the exhibits of the exhibition have been obtained during the scientific and educational expedition “Flotilla of Floating Universities” (2015–2022) from the Volga region, the Caspian Sea, the Don region and the Urals and are considered in the future as the basis for the development of a model polygon of the “MSU Youth Museum”.

The article is devoted to children’s pencil drawings, which are stored in the museum of the village of Markovo (Chukotka Peninsula). In the 1890s, these pictures were drawn by the pupils of the church parish school of this village and conveyed some events took place in the life of the rural inhabitants. The children took part in the traditional household and reflected what they saw in their drawings. The drawings did not become museum documents at once; they were kept in private archives before. In the 1990s, the drawings were transferred to the rural museum. Each one was named according to the depicted subject. For example, “Training the reindeer in sledge driving and riding”, “Reindeer racing", “The end of migration". Eleven drawings are preserved. The aim of the paper is to analyze the drawings and explain the ethnographic information therein. The author systematized the drawings by themes: “The traditional method of the reindeer herder’s economy”, “The traditional hunting for wild deer”. In the drawings, each character performs some kind of action. Men are depicted in the process of controlling a deer, firing a gun, driving a boat, or while hunting. Women are depicted in their traditional clothes – fur overalls. In the drawings, women carry water in buckets, control a deer and walk with children. One woman is depicted riding a deer as a racer. Children are drawn shorter than adults. The pupils tried to depict features of the structure of animals. In the drawings, the raindeer have branchy antlers and thick wool under their necks. Details of the images reflect ethnographic information about the methods of managing domestic raindeer, traditional transport and clothing. The interaction among different cultures is depicted in the pictures as well. Today, these drawings are a unique heritage because they convey historical events and ethnographic information.