The paper considers the use of two pedagogical approaches, person-centered and systemic-structural, in the development and implementation of two thematic museum classes dedicated to V.I. Vernadsky’s life and scientific activities. These classes, namely, “From the soil to the biosphere” and “V.I. Vernadsky’s life and scientific activity”, were developed at the Earth Science Museum of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and aimed at in-depth acquaintance of schoolchildren with the teaching about the biosphere. The paper presents methodological materials for the classes: a description of the stages of the lessons and tasks for independent work (a crossword and a quest). Our analysis of the second lesson’s approbation showed that the schoolchildren were unanimous in their opinion: the organization of an independent search for answers to the posed questions and the leading role of the museum teacher allowed them to better accepting complex concepts and understanding the relationship of various scientific directions.

In December 2025, it will be 200 years since the beginning of the thirty-year reign of Russian Emperor Nicholas I. This period was marked by many events that had a significant impact on the historical development of the country, including the fields of science, education and culture. The article provides a description and characterization of the University Charter (1835); features of the formation and activities of university museums are examined. A comparative characterization of museums focused on natural sciences, technology, and the humanities is presented. Methods of acquiring museum collections through expedition collections, purchases, and donations are discussed. The main forms of university museum activities, namely, research, educational, and outreach, are reflected. The most significant university museums of this period are identified.

Scientific museums in the Russian Federation, in accordance with current legislation, are switching to the collection management standard developed for the Ministry of Culture. The absolute priority of preserving museum items is a serious obstacle to the implementation of the standard, which greatly limits the possibility of their scientific examination, which is contrary to the interests of scientists. The examination of museum items, like any other use, including exhibiting, inevitably has a negative impact on their preservation. At the same time, the examination serves to increase the value of any item, its relevance for modern culture.

The methodology of scientists’ work with collections began to form in the period of antiquity. In our country, tools for processing, describing, systematizing and storing collections were formed in the 18th–19th centuries, namely in scientific museums, museums of the Academy of Sciences. Museums in the Russian Empire were part of the scientific organization system. However, after the Soviet reforms in the 1930s, museum and scientific activities were radically separated. As a result, the research function of museums under the Ministry of Culture is poorly implemented, which is enshrined in current regulatory documents.

Scientific museums, due to their subordination to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, have scientific research as their target indicators, which determines their priority over traditional museum indicators (storage and replenishment of funds, exhibits and attracting visitors). Attempts to combine the interests of examining and preserving collections have been discussed for several decades. This problem is especially evident in relation to natural science collections and museums, most of which are under the scientific department. Its solution requires the development of a methodology for handling museum collections and amendments to regulatory documentation.

The article discusses various forms of local history activities to be implemented in the interaction of natural science museums and secondary schools. The practical experience of employees of the Earth Science Museum of Lomonosov Moscow State University in the field of local history is described, namely: conducting a professional development program (Summer School), thematic classes with students, and consultations on the creation of educational expositions in school museums. A thematic plan of the section “Nature of the Native land” in a school museum is given. The prerequisites for successful cooperation between natural science museums and secondary schools in the joint implementation of local history activities are substantiated.

The article analyzes geotourism perspectives based on natural history museums. Significant trends for the integrated development of geotourism and natural history museums are formulated. These trends allow revealing prospective views on the tourist potential of the territory. In order to clarify the geotourism development potential at the place of the Earth’s geochronological key stages, several museums were analyzed in conjunction with the geotoponyms of geological systems in the world. A geoheritage interpretation model, correlating ex situ museums and in situ objects, is developed. It includes territorial aspects and substantive formats of interpretation, depending on the target audience and the format of interaction with geoheritage. Geoheritage evaluation includes three groups of criteria (scientific, educational and geotourism), each being estimated to summarize approaches for the museum representation. The criteria are ranged according to the comparison purpose of in situ and ex situ forms. The variety of geoheritage interpretation forms allows suggesting recommendations for geotourism development. One symbolically significant way is the museumification of in situ and ex situ objects to correlate the museum network and the network of protected areas as a complex tourist infrastructure. For the Perm Region as a historically significant place of the Permian geological system discovery, the priority is to develop a complex plan to integrate the possibilities of geoheritage representation through museum forms and in the natural environment. In view of the objective scientific data, the Perm Region has no GSSP of the Permian system; therefore the role of the “symbolic stratotype” should have the Permian Period Museum as the basic object of the geotourism infrastructure and the starting point of tourist routes. The supportive role in the Permian geoheritage preservation and representation belongs to the network of municipal and university museums.

The article is devoted to the history of V.I. Zubov’s Museum of Geology and Minero­logy, the prerequisites for its foundation, and the main stages of its creation, development, and collection formation. The article analyzes the museum’s exhibition policy and research activities, trends in museum science, the structure of the collections reflecting regional geological features, current issues and prospects for updating exhibition spaces, digitalization of the collections, and integration of museum experience into educational programs.

Professor N.E. Zhukovsky placed strong emphasis on visual clarity in writing and explaining his scientific works, repeatedly addressing the importance of geometric representation in theoretical mechanics. Drawing on archival materials from the Museum of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the authors demonstrate that the “Russian Method of Craft Training” was built on the accumulated theoretical scientific foundation of the mid 19th century, gradually enriched by systematic collections of tools and teaching aids for each subject, and further developed through the practical work of students and their teachers. Examples of mechanisms created by Professor N.E. Zhukovsky can be found in the writings of his students and followers, in the works of Soviet scientists, and in museums of foreign universities–all of which hold high cultural value as part of our society’s scientific and pedagogical heritage. Through the case study of creating the museum replica “Hess’ Loxodromic Pendulum” based on Zhukovsky’s calculations, the article illustrates the substantial cultural potential embedded in the papers and designs of the Russian scholar. It shows how much inspiration and new scientific ideas contemporary educators and students can still draw from the now classic works of Professor Zhukovsky and his disciples. The reader will become acquainted with the principles of this scholar’s scientific and pedagogical activity—vivid examples of genuine scientific dedication by a scholar and patriot of our country.

The article examines the collaboration between the Earth Science Museum and professors from the Faculty of Biology and the Faculty of Soil Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University (Faculty of Biology and Soil Science until 1973) from the museum’s founding to the present day. In the early 1950s, university professors collaborated with the museum staff to create biology-themed exhibits at the Museum. In particular, they helped preparing the exhibits on the 26th floor (Marine Hall) and the 25th floor (Natural Zonation). A brief overview of the current course offerings in biological disciplines at the Earth Science Museum is presented, including courses for students from the Faculty of Biology, the Faculty of Geology, and the Faculty of Philology at Moscow State University. The disciplines covered include “Ecology”, “Marine Communities and Ecosystems”, “Ecology with Fundamentals of Biogeography”, and “Modern Natural Sciences”. The museum’s exhibition serves as a unique educational environment for such classes, particularly when incorporating modern pedagogical approaches such as the flipped classroom model. The article presents the collaborative work of the Museum’s staff and students from the Faculty of Biology within the framework of the MSU’s Development Program “Development of the Foundations for the Establishing, Operating, and Advancing a Comprehensive University-based Scientific and Educational Youth Museum Using the Example of Lomonosov Moscow State University.” It also highlights the creation of a unique interdisciplinary open-air exhibition at the MSU Botanical Garden on Leninskie gory named “From the Arctic to Moscow: The Path of Glaciers”.

For the first time in the research literature, the paper highlights the cooperation of the outstanding Russian investigators G.N. Potanin (1835–1920) and V.I. Vernadsky (1863–1945). The basis of interaction between these scientists was determined by the fact that both of them were students of Natural Department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Imperial St. Petersburg University. They carried the knowledge and interest in research gained at the university throughout their lives. Based on authentic sources, the authors revealed the role of A.A. Inostrantsev (1843–1919) as the organizer and ruler of the geological cabinet (museum) at St. Petersburg University, where G.N. Potanin acquired the necessary knowledge for his scientific expeditions to Central Asia in 1874. Under the influence of Dr. Inostrantsev, Potanin realized the importance of museums in geology and other branches. Besides, he supported V.V. Dokuchaev (1846–1903) in conducting soil science research in Russia. The paper emphasizes the participation of the university student Vladimir Vernadsky in Prof. Dokuchaev’s expeditions and in the preparation of a soil exposition at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889. Following in the footsteps of his teachers and mentors, V.I. Vernadsky joined the museum science, became the curator of the Mineralogical Museum in Alma Mater, and then, some years later, in the Imperial Moscow University.

Immediate communication between V.I. Vernadsky and G.N. Potanin occurred in the 1890s – 1900s, when they participated in discussions on ideological and political reorganization of Russia, pondered on the problems of regional self-government in the country. As a brief conclusion from this publication, the authors postulate free thought and scientific creativity, which related to Vernadsky and Potanin, as relevant ideas of our days.

The paper is devoted to the influence of outstanding Russian scientists Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleyev and Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev on the formation of the views of their brilliant student Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, his formation as a great Russian thinker and naturalist on a planetary scale, as well as their further creative interaction.

The article demonstrates the important role of animalistic painting in environmental education and enlightenment in natural science museums, in particular, the Scientific and Educational Earth Science Museum at Moscow State University. Particular attention is paid to those artists whose works in the animalistic genre are presented in the museums which they collaborated with (N.V. Pinegin, V.A. Vatagin, K.K. Flerov, A.N. Komarov, V.A. Gorbatov, D.Ya. Cherkes, M.A. Birshtein, L.I. Naroditsky, I.A. Popov, M.I. Sidorov, S.P. Rychagov, V.A. Arlashin, D.N. Domogatsky, A.N. Bazel'tsev). The article identifies paintings in the animalistic genre exhibited in the “Natural Zonality” section of the Earth Science Museum at Moscow State University, provides scientific and artistic descriptions, and demonstrates the relationship with natural exhibits. Based on this analysis, proposals for modernizing the exhibition were formulated.

Main areas of work of the group of collections of the Earth Science Museum of MSU are reflected in the article from its inception to the present: the history of foundation, the composition of collections and the main areas of activity for acquisition, study, storage and accounting of collections. Features of the collection work in natural history museums are considered.

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 open-air exhibition “Glaciers from the Arctic to Moscow” aims to present the interdisciplinary issues of complex cosmoglobal aspects and mechanisms of interaction between the geospheres, which are the product of climate change spanning the entire history of the planet and continuously affecting ecosystems. The exhibition is organized at the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University in collaboration with the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University as a cluster of the Youth Museum. A synthetic version of the distribution of glacial covers in the territory of the East European Plain and a version of the most commonly accepted scale of glaciations and interglaciations of the Quaternary period with the main astrochronological reference points have been specially developed and designed to be easily understood by a wide range of visitors to the exhibition. Special attention is paid to Milanković’s cycles, and original information stands have been created to reflect their work. The natural basis of the exhibition is formed by a group of different-sized erratic boulders, arranged according to the reconstructed location of the rocks that form them in their parent locations, modeling the “glacier route” on the East European Plain. By analyzing the “travel notes” in the form of systems of characteristic grooves and “tan crusts,” as well as the composition of the rocks, together with each visitor, it is possible to reconstruct the path of a particular boulder, and, with the help of information boards, to try to understand the scenario of the glacier’s development, the history of the region, and the planet as a whole. The created exhibition can be positioned as a universal conceptual and design solution for the space of a university science museum.

The international situation affects a wide variety of aspects of our life, including museum exhibitions. The closer the ties between countries, the more relevant exhibits can be seen in the display cases. Of the BRICS member countries, China is best represented at the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University. There are numerous and diverse samples of rocks and minerals, fossils, soil monoliths and herbaria. Joint geological work is also reflected in the collections of rocks and ores from Iran and India. Until now, the museum has been maintaining only private relations with the rest of the BRICS member countries, thanks to which it has collections of butterflies, herbaria and individual samples of rocks and minerals. Nevertheless, the museum features the most distinctive exhibits from most of these countries.

The article provides scientific and artistic descriptions of the paintings composing the triptych “Transformation of the River Network of the Russian Plain”, namely: G.E. Satel’s “Moscow Canal” and M.A. Suzdaltsev’s “At the Construction of the Volga Hydroelectric Power Station named after V.I. Lenin” and “Tsimlyansk Reservoir (Sea)”. The creative path of the artists G.E. Satel and M.A. Suzdaltsev, the background to the creation of their joint triptych, the interaction of the acting director of the Museum Yu.K. Yefremov with these artists applying for the commission, and his opinion of the resulting paintings are considered. The connection between the triptych paintings and the natural science exposition of the hall is shown. Comparisons are made with the paintings “Ob” by I.V. Titkov and “Yenisei” by Ya.D. Romas.

The article lists the meteorite samples having supplemented the collection of the Earth Science Museum over the past few years. A brief description of the meteorites, the search and find history are given. Some meteorite expeditions of the staff of the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University are briefly described.

The article presents a retrospective analysis of the development of educational and enlightenment activities in the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University named after Lomonosov from the moment of its foundation to the present. The following trends are highlighted: expansion of the forms and methods of museum pedagogy over time, introduction of interactive methods in the practice of the educational and enlightenment activities, work with various age visitor groups (from younger pupils and students to adults), as well as the use of digital methods in the educational process.

The article presents an analysis of the results of the All-Russian competition of creative projects “Youth and Museum” organized by the Earth Science Museum of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the V.I. Vernadsky Non-Governmental Ecological Founda­tion within the framework of the MSU Development Program in 2024. Our methodology for holding such competition events, its content and results are described. The results of a survey of the visitors of the All-Russian Festival “Science 0+” on the works of the compe­tition winners are presented. Recommendations are given for organizing and holding of competitions aimed at attracting young people to the study of natural science topics through the museum sphere. The possibility of using competitions to stimulate interest in museum activities and the further development of a modern museum is discussed.

Based on various archival sources from the funds of the Russian State Historical Archives, including the 1897 contract for the supply of museum glass cabinets and display cases between the Arthur Koppel Joint-Stock Company and the Supremely Approved Commission for Managing Work on the Internal Arrangement of the Zoological Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, the article addresses the issue of exposition equipment in the context of preserving cultural heritage. The contract and the documents preceding its signing fit into a broad historical context. The described purchase probably illustrates the first experience of mass use in Russia of museum cabinets and display cases made of metal, rather than wood, as before. The choice of the manufacturer and supplier was interesting, where, for obvious reasons, preference was given to a foreign rather than a Russian company. As a result, the author concludes that the new experience of using iron museum cabinets and display cases was considered successful for Russia and marked the transition of Russian museums to a new type of exhibition equipment both for better preservation of museum exhibits and for providing the possibility of a better visual overview of the collections of public museums, which were becoming more and more numerous in Russia at the end of the 19th century.

Expedition work is an important aspect of the activities of any natural science university museum, starting directly from its formation as a scientific, educational and enlightening center. As the museum structure develops, the role of such expeditions is transformed, acquiring the character of an evolutionarily necessary structural and functional mechanism. In the 75-year history of the Earth Science Museum of MSU, three main stages of expeditionary activity are distinguished. The first one is associated with the formation of the Museum in the 1950–60s and reflects, as the main task, the formation of an array of naturalia (natural objects), as well as photographic materials and works of art, which formed the basis of the exposition and collection base. The second stage is marked by targeted expeditions for specific local exhibition and research tasks, involving field collection of natural facts. At the third stage in the 21st century, the functional spectrum of the Museum’s expeditionary activities is expanding: field work, in addition to the traditional mechanism of new acquisitions, becomes an arena for positioning the Museum for the general public outside its classical space, an interactive cluster of education and popularization of science, involving various social groups in the area of the expedition’s work in museum co-creation. The Museum’s expeditions are widely reflected in popular science films and books, at “Science Festivals”, in the media space and blogosphere. These innovations have been testing in recent years in the mode of the scientific and educational expedition “Floating Universities Flotilla” in the Volga region, which has become an important resource for the implementation of the concept of a mobile network museum, as well as the formation of a youth museum as a promising interdisciplinary project of the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University.

The article tells about the creation of a museum at the Institute of Developmental Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in a virtual format and about plans to open a permanent exhibition in a hall. The history of the Institute and the contribution of its outstanding employees are briefly considered.

The authors of the article highlight the formation of museology as a complex of scientific knowledge about museums in China. They reveal the first experience of joining the Chinese museum staff into a professional union in the 1930s, show the role of the Chinese Museum Society / Chinese Museum Association in activating museum life in the 1980s–2000s. The article reveals the decisive role of the journal “Chinese museum” as a scientific and organizational center of Chinese museology. It is shown how the works of the museum members Chen Duanzhi, Zeng Zhaoyu, and Li Ji in the 1930s and their successors and followers today – Wang Hongjun, Su Donghai, and Ma Zishu – have a strong beneficial influence on the formation and development of Chinese museology.

The exposition of the department "Natural Zones" in the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University (25th floor, halls Nos 18–20) presents 15 full-scale exhibits of dry 3D fragments of biogeocenoses, namely: spotted tundra; forest tundra; swamps: flat-hummocky tundra, oligotrophic upland and mesotrophic lowland sedge; spruce-green grass; grass-grass and tipchak-grass steppes; subtropical mountain forest; alpine meadows; semi-deserts; deserts – clay, wormwood-solyanka and ilak belosaksaulnik on ridge sands; and savannas. These exhibits demonstrate the interaction of the main natural components characteristic of the respective climatic conditions (soils, flora, and fauna). The article gives a description of the animal species represented in the exposition based on a visual examination of zoological exhibits and a study of their nomenclature and taxonomic changes.

The article analyzes approaches to the development and conduct of excursions for students of the early twentieth century and provides recommendations already expressed a hundred years ago for guides and teachers. It was then that two main approaches were distinguished, namely: orientation to listeners (excursionists) and the guide’s detailed knowledge of the museum’s objects. Currently, the preparation of excursions to both the Natural science museum and the botanical garden is almost the same and includes the same stages: from choosing a topic to developing a detailed plan. But botanical garden excursions differ from museum ones, as they have a seasonal nature and depends on the flowering period of the plants. However, all excursions (in a museum or in a botanical garden) perform the same functions, namely: informational, cultural, educational and leisure, although in terms of the degree of impact on human feelings, undoubtedly, botanical garden excursions differ significantly from museum excursions.

The article presents the results of studies of a number of sections of Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) deposits in the Saratov Right Bank region (settlements Krasnyi Oktyabr’, Doktorovka, Kurdyum and Shirokoe), confined to the Yelshano-Kurdyum uplift. Oryctocenosis combines autochthonous (ichnofossils), subautochthonous (bivalves and gastropods) and allochthonous (ammonites, wood fragments) elements. Sedimentological and mineralogical indicators (ripple marks, desiccation cracks, wedge-shaped structures, cross-bedding, glauconite, and calcite veinlets), as well as fossil remains and features of their taphonomy, allow us to diagnose the coastal ecosystem of the epicontinental sea basin. In the ecosystem format, we see a variety of physico-geographical situations: areas of the bottom which are periodically actively bioturbated and hydrodynamically transformed into mature hardground; zones of active hydrodynamics with the formation of cross-bedding; and zones of subaerial surfaces with the possible development of stick soils. Reconstruction of the paleoecosystem is complicated by the presence of a number of natural facts that have not been unambiguously interpreted, images of which are given in the article. The studied sections are of interest from the standpoint of geoheritage. Selected natural facts are actively involved in the development of a number of geoscientific university museums.

The article considers an ecology course in relation to the most optimal approach for primary school children–on the example of various ecosystems of the world with consideration of individual examples of adaptation genesis and evolution of wildlife. The authors used the following teaching techniques and methods: avoiding the teacher’s adaptive speech, forming the skill of hypothesizing, and laying the foundations of biological drawing. All this helps us to make a better transition from theoretical educational programs to the practical acquaintance of children with the biodiversity of natural communities. This course can be used within the framework of museum pedagogy and on educational platforms, which can be the natural landscapes of protected areas of regional significance (nature reserves and preserves, natural monuments).

The prevalence of the ecological approach over the historical and partly natural-historical ones in the exposition and exhibition activities of museums may have negative consequences in the perception of the population. In domestic museums, the theme of the history of environmental protection, public environmental organizations, especially youth ones, is poorly represented. Among them are nature protection squads (NPS) and their whole movement, which was most active in the 1970–1980s. Most of their archives have been lost. Therefore, the exhibition at the Voronezh Regional Local History Museum “Youth on guard of nature”, dedicated to the 50^th anniversary of NPS in Voronezh State University, can be considered unique.

From March 24 to June 5, 2023, the Voronezh Regional Local History Museum for the first time among domestic museums demonstrated an exhibition dedicated to the activities of a student public environmental organization in the 1970s–1990s. The article substantiates the uniqueness of this exhibition and the relevance of such museum expositions. It tells about its multitasking and creative solution of a number of issues of the exposition. Questions are raised about the proportionality between the ecological and historical approaches (including the history of ecological aspects of culture) in museum expositions.

The concept of biogeocenoses as structural units of the biosphere is reflected in the exposition of the department “Natural Zones” (Halls No. 18–20 on the 25^th floor) of the Moscow State University Museum of Earth Science: the interaction of the main natural components characteristic of the corresponding climatic conditions – soils, flora and fauna – is succinctly demonstrated. There are 15 full-scale exhibits of dry volumetric fragments of biogeocenoses: spotted tundra; forest tundra; swamps: flat-hummocky tundra, oligotrophic upland and mesotrophic lowland sedge; spruce-green grass; grass-grass and tipchak-grass steppes; subtropical mountain forest; alpine meadows; semi–deserts; deserts – clay, wormwood-solyanka and ilak belosaksaulnik on ridge sands; and savannas as well.

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.

The article draws attention to the relevance of studying the history of museological thought in Russia. The author notes the prospects of the biographical method of research, which makes it possible to trace the continuity of views, the motives for making certain decisions, and to build priorities more precisely. The ideas expressed in the recently published book "From the history of museological thought in Russia: the 20th century" are being developed. The paper analyses the biographies, contributions to the museum theory, and features of the creative path of several well-known domestic museum specialists such as M. Novorussky, N. Trotskaya, M. Farmakovsky, and L. Rakov. A more accurate representation of their role in the formation of museological knowledge, as well as noting common features of museologists of the 20th century, can be made possible by new publi-cations of sources appeared in the 2000s, mostly of personal origin.