Russian metallurgical manufacture engineering in the 1930s studies
Metallurgical industry has been playing and will always play a pivotal role in Russia's successful economic development. Its history has attracted attention of specialists from different disciplines, including engineers, economists, historians of technology, archaeologists, etc. A huge wealth of materials on the history of Russian metallurgical engineering has been accumulated. These materials, however, are contained in the works of the representatives of different scientific communities. Therefore identification, systematization, and comparative analysis of these historiographic materials comprise an important and challenging task for the historians of Russian metallurgical engineering. This is true for all periods in the development of metallurgical engineering, including the one under study, i. e. the manufacture period. The paper reviews the Russian historiography of iron and steel metallurgy in Russia during the manufacture period that has been generated between 1929 and 1938, and reviews the relevant works of the organizations (Institute for the History of Material Culture, Institute of History and Archeography) and individual researchers (A. V. Borodin, N. B. Baklanov, V. A. Kamenskii, Yu. M. Pokrovskii, V. V. Danilevskii, V. S. Virginskii, etc.). Special attention is given to the biographies of the scientists who studied the relevant topics in the history of technology. The paper describes the history of writing and publishing works on the history of science and technology, carrying out archeographic projects, and conducting archeological research. The most important works on the history of metallurgy are characterized for the first time. The paper also identifies the scientific links and actual influences, and demonstrates the collaboration and rivalry in this research area.