Scientific and Technical Intelligentsia\'s Memory about Work and Everyday Life in the Soviet Towns of Science in the 1950 — 1990s (Novosibirsk, Dubna, Chernogolovka)

The study focuses in identifying and analyzing special characteristics inherent to the cultural memory of Soviet scientific and technical intelligentsia about work and everyday life in the Soviet towns of science in the 1950 — 1990s. The second object under study are forms in which this memory is preserved. The research is based on 17 in-depth interviews taken in Akademgorodok in Novosibirsk, Dubna and Chernogolovka with people who worked and lived in these cities since the late 1950s. We use the term ITR («inzhenerno-technicheskie rabotniki») to describe the social group to which my informants belong. Contemporary scholars have proved that this class has changed the mass perception of the social value of science in USSR. These narratives are analyzed from three main viewpoints. First of all, we will demonstrate how this group perceives and represents the image of Soviet history in connection with the image of science. We also focus on their perception of the city of science as a special cultural locus. And, most importantly, we will analyze how these ideas affect the current work of these people on memorialization and glorification of their cities and Soviet science in general.