Authors

Discussion

Shortly after the October Revolution, Soviet Russia witnessed a remarkable boom in museum-building. Among the numerous newly established institutions, a notable yet understudied segment was devoted to hygiene, health and childcare. The first of these, the Museum of Healthcare, was founded as early as on October 22, 1918, in Petrograd. These institutions were part of a wider sanitary propaganda network that included brochures, film screenings, posters, and even theatrical performances, and played a central role in shaping and disseminating new public health norms aligned with modern scientific ideals and socialist values. While these museums undoubtedly served significant educational purposes in the field of public health, they also functioned as instruments of ideological indoctrination. For example, they supported anti-religious campaigns: in 1928, the relics of St. Theodosius of Chernigov were opened and displayed publicly at the Museum of Healthcare, recontextualized within a secular, scientific narrative.

Due to time constraints and the fragmentary nature of surviving sources, this paper will focus on three key institutions from this influential network: the Museum of Healthcare (later the House of Sanitary Culture) in Petrograd, the Central Museum of Healthcare in Moscow (opened in 1927), and the Museum of Maternity and Infancy Protection, also in Moscow (established in 1934). This paper will offer a comparative analysis of three Soviet museums, taking as its starting point the broader question of how exhibitions on hygiene, health, and childcare were employed to indoctrinate visitors with emerging Bolshevik ideology. It will examine what kinds of objects and exhibits were selected to support these narratives, and how visual culture — such as diagrams, posters, photographs, and film — was used to reinforce their messages. The analysis will also consider the role of new media in shaping the educational strategies of these institutions: for instance, the Museum of Healthcare introduced one of the first automatic guides — a device in the form of an antique statue that played recorded explanations of the exhibits. Finally, the paper will explore how the concept of scientific objectivity was performed and communicated within a museum setting.

To address these questions, I draw on a variety of primary sources, including surviving photographs of exhibitions, contemporary press, and visitor guides from the 1930s. Through this material, I aim to reconstruct the spatial and visual strategies employed in these museums, situating them within broader discussions on the histories of knowledge, science communication, and propaganda in the early Soviet period. In doing so, the paper will seek to provide a more nuanced view on the development and medialization of science, as well as the role of cultural institutions in shaping the Soviet politics of the body.