History of the Sector

Stuffed birds seemed to be exhibited in the Natural History Cabinet of the Imperial Moscow University since its creation in 1791, but they all burned down in the Moscow fire of 1812. Then the birds were deposited together with other materials in the general collection, with 422 bird specimens having been listed in it in 1822. Until the 1840s, the collection consisted exclusively of stuffed birds mounted on the stands and often made quite roughly, sometimes in unnatural poses. Since the second half of the 19th century, they also began prepared and storing bird stuffed skins in a standard recumbent position with folded wings for their easy storage and research.

A special position of curator for ornithological collection was introduced in 1931, and the Department of Ornithology was created in the next year, headed by G.P. Dementiev to become a world-famous ornithologist. He has been in charge of the Department until 1947, and this position was taken by N.A. Gladkov (1947-1954), then by A.M. Sudilovskaya (1954-1975), and lastly by P.S. Tomkovich (since 1977). In the 1960s, G.P. Dementiev served as a scientific consultant of the Department of Ornithology, and this public position was taken by V.E. Flint since 1976. A great contribution to the work of the sector was also made in 1976-1992 by V.G. Babenko and in 1977-1988 by A.A. Kuznetsov (1926-2013).