• Revolutionary museology as distinct field: While scholarship has covered revolutionary narrative management from above, this project pioneered studying museums as key institutions in this process. The project established revolutionary museology as a distinct transnational phenomenon dating to the late 19th century and Russian revolutionary emigre communities accross Europe.
• Re-conceptualization of memory politics: Rather than viewing Soviet memory formation as linear and dominated by Bolshevik narratives from 1917, this study revealed competing memory projects in museums of revolutions that operated in early Soviet Union.
• Non-party socialism concept: The project introduced "non-party socialism" to describe actors who, while outside the Bolshevik Party, actively shaped Soviet cultural institutions. This challenges views that early Soviet political culture merely tolerated ideological diversity, showing instead that Bolsheviks and non-Bolshevik socialists saw themselves as heirs to common revolutionary lineage. Even under Stalinism and mass-scale repressions, material work by non-party socialists in revolutionary museums could not be erased, as it formed collection cores and became meaning-forming elements the Stalinist regime could not abandon.
• Thermidor as analytical category: By analyzing Petrograd-Leningrad revolutionary museums, the project theorized Thermidor as a distinct phase within revolutionary processes, providing tools for understanding post-revolutionary transitions. Thermidor captures revolutionary decline when not yet apparent, while rulers continue citing revolution for legitimacy and view themselves as continuing the revolutionary cause.
• Heritage formation dynamics: The research shows how revolutionary history competed with classical cultural patrimony, offering insights into how societies value the past through cultural institutions. This advances heritage studies by providing a case diverging from Western preservationist norms. In the 1920s, revolutionary museums attempted formulating heritage as a subversive category.
Expected results beyond project end
Although the fellowship has concluded, the research laid groundwork for additional outcomes. A third article will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal examining how the concept of Thermidor can applied to post-revolutionary societies in the domain of historical memory. I also continue the work on the monograph about museumifying of the revolutionary memories.
Potential impacts
The project creates important empirical foundations for studying historical-revolutionary museums, opening perspectives for analyzing revolutionary identity, historical memory formation and the nature of Stalinism. It provides methodological models for scholars studying memory institutionalization in revolutionary movements and post-revolutionary societies.
The project also impacts my career prospects. Beyond formal credentials from receiving a Marie Curie grant and working at Oxford, I acquired wonderful colleagues and established myself as a professional academic historian.
