Or 17013

A collection of typewritten and handwritten/hand-drawn materials relating to Mr. Ian MacPherson's trip to western Crimea in 1927.

ff. 1-34, f. 47 : A collection of rubbings of tamghalar or stone inscriptions from various locations in Yevpatoria (Kezlev in Crimean Tatar). The rubbings are numbered and some have short inscription in unsure hand in Arabic script reading Cani Mille. F. 6 contains a Russian note "Khan Dzhami", followed by the date 6 август 1927 Евпатория. A description of the use of tamghalar as a general cultural trait among Crimean Tatars and other Turkic peoples is provided on f. 37.

ff. 35-41 : A typewritten account of Mr. MacPherson's trip to Crimea entitled "Account of Visit to the Crimea in Summer of 1927." It contains detailed descriptions of the ethnic communities in the region, various religious and social structures, and anecdotes about the activities of various Soviet ethnographers/anthropologists (?). Included is information regarding the Muslim Tatar, Greek Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Qaraim and Armenian communities and their places of worship.

Mention is made of an unnamed Jewish doctor from Minsk (f. 36) conducting blood tests on the local Qaraim community; Crimean Tatar historian and archaeologist Osman Aqçoqraqly (f. 2); a local Armenian priest (f. 37); Madame Paulina J. Chepurina, Director of the Eupatoria Museum (f. 37); M. Pomirantsev, photographer (f. 38); and Professor Filonenko of the Turko-Tatar Faculty of Simferopol University (f. 38).

Among the institutions visited are the Qaraim National Library and the Eupatoria Museum, the contents of which are described in detail. Arabic-script inscriptions from several items have been copied out by hand.

On f. 38, Mr. MacPherson describes his journey to Sevastopol (Aqyar) in order to attend the Second Pan-Union Archaeological Conference, and the earthquake of September 11-12, 1927. He then lists the English-language books found in the Library of the Eupatoria Museum, which he says he will review with "our" Library in London. This message is dated Moscow, Nov. 8 1927.

In the middle of f. 39 is a hand-drawn copy of a Hebrew inscription without a caption. Following this are lists of various buildings in Eupatoria; of the mosques in the city (f. 40), along with occasional annotations in Crimean Tatar in Arabic script, compiled according to a "List of property in the town of Eupatoria to become municipal property" ordered by the Council of the People's Commissariat of the Cr.S.S.R on 14 January 1922 and 10 February 1923.

ff. 42-43 : "The Qaraite National Library in Eupatoria": a report on the Library, first founded in 1805, and its history. It recounts the work undertaken by a Mr. Mikhail N. Sokolov to catalogue the manuscripts in the Library, and of some of the more notable items held within its collections. The report is a translation (?) from the Annual Report of the Academy of Sciences for 1926, pp. 144-145.

f. 44 : A pencil sketch of the exterior of the tekiye in Eupatoria.

f. 45 : An ink and pencil sketch of the interior of the the tekiye in Eupatoria, containing an Arabic-language inscription in unsure Arabic script :

التكية في مدينة گەزلەوە سنة 1927 يان مكفيرسون

f. 46 : A rough pencil and ink map of Kaklyq Bazaar in Eupatoria, with the number of pillars on each side of the houses remaining from the Khanate period indicated in ink. The words "Qaklyk Bazar" are also written in Arabic and Cyrillic scripts.