Institute of History and Archeology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, Russia

S. D. Batishchev, Postgraduate Student
E. G. Neklyudov, Chief Researcher, Doctor of Historical Sciences, ntplant9@mail.ru

Using the concepts of Cultural Memory and Sites of Memory, this article retraces the perception of the pre-revolutionary image of Gornyi Zhurnal by its authors as a reflection of the vision of a professional community represented by Russian specialists in mineral mining. The review uses the commemorative publications of the Journal toward its 75th anniversary in the time of the Russian Empire (1900), as well as toward the anniversaries in the Soviet period (1935, 1950, 1975) and the 175^th anniversary of the Journal in post-Soviet Russia (2000). Emphasis is laid on the different appraisals of this scientific and technical periodical, which first came out in 1825, and its editorial board represented by the Academic Mining Committee composed of well-known scientists, expert managers and leading mining engineers. It is shown that preconceived and negatory views of the Stalin era were overcome already by the 1950s when specialists, contrary to the dominant ideology, restored the objectively high opinion on the pre-revolutionary edition and its editorial staff activity. Also, it is described how the scope of the Journal was expanded with the subjects which attracted attention of the authors of the anniversary publications, starting from the analysis of contribution made by the Journal to cultivate mining art and allied sciences and finishing with the recreation of the Journal history and biographies of its founders and editors. The authors of this article come to a conclusion that, despite the profound changes in the history of the homeland, Gornyi Zhurnal remained the site of memory for the mining community for the whole 20^th century and promoted the idea of inextricable connection and solidarity of generations of mining engineers in Russia.

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