Dmitry Zelenin (ethnographer)

In the early 20th century, Zelenin collected fairy tales and chastushkas in his native region and the Northern Urals.

It was "the most comprehensive survey of research works and data on East Slavic folk culture" available at the time.

[1] Between 1916 and 1925 Zelenin lived in Kharkiv, teaching at the local university and helping to set up the Museum of the Sloboda Ukraine.

Zelenin led the European Brigade of the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography, which was formed in 1938 to formulate the list of nationalities to be officially recognized by the Soviet Union.

[2] Despite his adoption of Marr's theories, Zelenin was attacked by Soviet Marxist ethnologists as a Russian nationalist and racist "in disguise", which made the publication of his new works impossible.