Zelenov Ivan Konstantinovich
9 November 1878, Konnove village, Berezino volost, Sudogodsk Vezd, Vladimir Governorate — 7 April 1942, Burepolom camp, Gorky Oblast
Biography, education, career:
Ivan Zelenov’s father was a cabinet-maker. Zelenov graduated from Vladimir Municipal College of three grades and a teachers’ training college in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1897‑1903 he worked as a teacher and occupied the position of Director of the all-male Agricultural College in Sharkan village, Sarapulsk Uezd of Vyatka Governorate. He then worked at the Workshop for the production of educational equipment, which was established by Vyatka Governorate Council. He got interested in gathering ethnographic collections, and in February 1904 he brought several collections on the ethnography of the Udmurts for the Department of Ethnography of the Russian Museum; in 1904‑1905 he made descriptions of the collections. Mostly, he educated himself. On 2 May 1905 he was appointed Director of the Museum affiliated with the Workshop. He continued travelling across the Volga-Kama Region, gathering collections on the ethnography of the Udmurts, the Meadow and Mountain Mari, Komi-Permyaks, the Besermyan, Russians, the Chuvash people, the Kriashen Tatars, the Mansi and some other peoples, primarily for the Department of Ethnography and also for the MAE. His item and photo collections are among the gems of the funds of both museums. After the Revolution he worked in different towns and cities, including Nizhny Novgorod, where he held the position of Lecturer at the Department of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Faculty of Biology, Nizhny Novgorod University, and took part in organizing the museum of ethnography within the university. In 1930-s he worked in Gorky Library and was engaged in compiling a reference index of literature devoted to the history and ethnography of the Chuvash people. In the early hours of 23 June 1941 he was arrested. He died in Burepolom corrective labour camp. Zelenov was posthumously exonerated in 1989.
Areas of expertise: History and ethnography of the peoples of Siberia, the Extreme North, and the Far East
Areas of expertise: History and ethnography of the peoples of Siberia, the Extreme North, and the Far East.