Historical and Domestic Collection
The historical and domestic collection of the Grodekovo Museum has been formed throughout the museum's history. Initially it was represented by isolated specimens. Later it was enriched with the materials collected in the course of expeditions of 1930s-1980s, as well as by accidental acquisitions. This acquisition is still going on. Today the museum's historical and domestic collection numbers more than 15 thousand objects and is divided into sub-collections according to types and materials: "Soft materials", "Metal", "Glass, ceramics", "Artificial materials", "Wood", "History of technology", "Furniture", "Accessories".
The Metal collection (over 2,000 items) consists of tools, farm and urban household items, hunting and fishing items, and medical instruments from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Perhaps one of the most valuable items in the collection is a box made by the hands of St. Innocent (Veniaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, an educator of America and Siberia, who was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1977.
This box from the Grodekovo Museum collections is made of brass in the form of a rectangular box with a hinged lid, the surface of which is decorated with a chased plant ornament. The box was given as a gift in 1896 by the daughter of the Most Reverend Innocent, Ekaterina Ivanovna Petelina, as is attested by a dedication letter, made at the time the family relic was passed on: "This box, made of patterned copper and simple work, is the handmade piece of art by Father John Veniamin. Ioann Veniaminov (later Metropolitan Innocent of Moscow and Kolomna). In this box Fr. John John made a gift to his daughter in the year 1821. I certify all of the above with my signature and personal seal, Khabarovsk, May 13th 1896. Daughter of Metropolitan widow, wife of Priest Ilya Ivanov Pietelin, Ekaterina Ivanov Pietelin".
In this box St. Innocent, then a graduate of the Irkutsk seminary, presented a gift to his future wife, Ekaterina, the daughter of the Yakut priest Ioann Sharin. Unfortunately, what gift the future celebrated missionary gave his bride was not mentioned in the deed of gift. Nor is there any mention of it in the autobiography of the saint, nor is it ever mentioned in his letters and diary entries. It is known only that for a long time the box was kept in the family as a family heirloom. (represented in the exhibition "History of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Far East" (link to description of the exhibition)).
Of interest is Kuznetsovsky porcelain from the "Glass, Ceramics" collection. These are tureens, dishes, plates, teapots, sugar bowls, tea pairs. Among them stands out a table set of the end of the 19th century merchants of the 1st guild of the Bryadovs, donated to the museum by their heiress O.N. Migina, a breeder of the Far East, an honored agronomist of the Russian Federation.
The highlight of the collection were two exclusive items - glasses from the local manufacturer, merchant N.I. Tifontai.
The "History of Technology" collection includes a large number of antique cameras and photo cameras of foreign and Russian manufacturers. Radio and television equipment is well represented, starting with the plate-reproducer of 1931. Alloscope, radio receivers "Ural" 1940s, "Star" 1950s, TV set "Rubin" 1961, modern transistors, tape recorders, TV sets are kept in museum funds.
As for household appliances, the museum has a number of instruments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These are Perfekt scales of Russian-American manufacture, Odner arithmometer made in St. Petersburg at V. Tender's mechanical plant, Ericson telephone set, St. Paul coffee grinder, wooden pepper grinder, Diabolo separator, curling iron, hair-cutting machine, etc.