Local Lore, Bibliography of

a bibliography providing information about publications dealing with a particular region. Local lore bibliographies are of great importance for studying the natural conditions, resources, economy, history, and culture of a region.

In Russia local lore bibliographies were first compiled in the early 19th century, and important work was done in the post-reform period. Local lore bibliographies were compiled by statistical committees and archive commissions, the Russian Geographical Society and its local branches, regional-study societies, and individual scholars and bibliographers. General and subject indexes to literature about different regions were published, as well as indexes to local periodicals, particularly Gubernskie vedomosti, and biobibliographic dictionaries of prominent persons of various regions. The most important works were those of G. N. Gennadi (the Crimea, indexes to Gubernskie vedomosti), V. I. Mezhov (Turkestan, Siberia), D. D. Smyshliaev (Urals), Z. M. Penkina (Transcaspian region, Poles’e), I. F. Masanov (Vladimir region), and A. F. Shidlovskii (European North).

Work on local lore bibliography expanded rapidly after the October Revolution of 1917. Problems relating to the theory and methodology of regional bibliography were worked out, and the first major work in the field, Principles of Regional Bibliography by N. V. Zdobnov, was published (Leningrad, 1926; 2nd ed., Moscow-Leningrad, 1931). In the 1920’s and 1930’s prominent Soviet scholars and bibliographers made important contributions to regional study, notably L. S. Berg, V. L. Komarov, V. A. Obruchev, M. K. Azadovskii, N. N. Gribanovskii, N. V. Zdobnov, V. P. Kosovanov, and A. N. Turunov. During this period major bibliographic works were compiled, including the Bibliography of Buriat-Mongolia (vols. 1, 3, 4, Moscow-Leningrad, 1939-46; issue 5, Ulan-Ude, 1970) and the Bibliography of the Far East Krai (vols. 1-2, Moscow, 1935).

The centers for the compilation of local lore bibliography in the USSR are republic, oblast, and krai libraries. University libraries and some research institutions also work in this area. The largest bibliographic center of Siberia and the Far East, the State Public Scientific and Technical Library of the Siberian Division of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, issues the bibliographic quarterlies Istoriia Sibiri (since 1966) and Narodnoe khoziaistvo Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka (since 1967). Many libraries publish general and specialized indexes to literature about a region, for example, Rivers and Lakes of Karelia and Their Use by S. V. Grigor’ev (Petrozavodsk, 1964), and regional bibliographic annuals and quarterlies, such as Literatura o Sverdlovskoi oblasti (published quarterly since 1951). Also published are regional biobibliographic dictionaries and bibliographic works dealing with a particular period of a person’s life, for example, V. I. Lenin and Siberia: Bibliographic Index (2nd ed., Novosibirsk, 1970). Since 1963 the Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library in Leningrad has been publishing the multivolume Bibliography of Local Lore Bibliographies of the RSFSR.

In many foreign countries information about local lore publications is frequently provided by bibliographic guides dealing with the country as a whole or its major subdivisions. Such guides are usually called regional bibliographies.