Bakhrushin Theatrical Museum

(full name, A. A. Bakhrushin Central Theatrical Museum), a major theatrical museum of the USSR. The museum was founded in 1894 by A. A. Bakhrushin, who placed it under the authority of the Academy of Sciences in 1913. After the October Revolution of 1917 it was designated a state institution and Bakhrushin was appointed director for life.

The museum contains approximately a half million holdings on the history of Russian, Soviet, and foreign drama and musical theater. It has archives and manuscripts of such outstanding figures of the theater as M. S. Shchepkin, A. S. Griboedov, P. S. Mochalov, M. N. Ermolova, the Sadovskii family, K. S. Stanislavsky, V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, F. I. Chaliapin, L. V. So-binov, A. A. Gorskii, K. Ia. Goleizovskii, and V. A. Teliakovskii. It also has scenery and costume designs by P. Gonzago, A. Ia. Golovin, M. A. Vrubel’, A. N. Benois, L. S. Bakst, P. V. Vil’iams, and V. V. Dmitriev, as well as collections of phonograph and tape recordings. It organizes frequent lectures and arranges special exhibits in the USSR and abroad. The museum has a library with 60,000 volumes.