On the 22nd-23rd of October 2009 Vitebsk museum of regional lore held the science conference “Antiquities of Vitebsk”, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the finding of the characters drown on the birch bark in Vitebsk and the 150th anniversary of A.R.Bradovsky’s birth. The director of the Museum of regional lore I.P.Vodneva took part in the conference with the report “Polotsk researcher of local lore Ivan Petrovich Dejnis” (dedicated to the 110th anniversary of his birth).
Ivan Petrovich Dejnis’s name is well-known nowadays in Polotsk district. He began his pedagogical and local lore work in the 1920s. Ivan Petrovich was an active participant of all the activities, organized by the Commission of the monuments of antiquity and art protection, tre secretary of the Association of local lore. He also worked at collecting of exhibits for the creation of Museum of local lore. After retirement he spent most of his free time on his local lore work. In the 1970-1980s he donated his collection of exhibits, part of which is demonstrated nowadays in Polotsk museums. His manuscripts are a very valuable source of knowledge about the most ancient town in Belarus. The 110th anniversary of Ivan Petrovich’s birth and the 90th anniversary of the beginning of his local lore work will be celebrated in 2009. A number of activities will be held to commemorate the name of this researcher Polotsk history.
