The article analyzes the process of development of local history of Southern Ukraine in the 1920s–1930s as a complex scientific phenomenon that combined interdisciplinary approaches, institutional organization, and cultural and educational activities. It is found that the Odesa Commission of Local History at the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences became the defining center of local history work, whose activities covered historical, archaeological, ethnographic, and natural science areas. The structure of the commission is determined, in particular, four main sections that provided research into regional history, culture, and nature. The main areas of activity of the commission are considered: organization of field expeditions, archaeological excavations, recording of monuments, description of ethnocultural features, and research of natural resources. The contribution of leading scientists, such as S. Dlozhevsky, R. Volkov, G. Tanfiliev, in the development of southern local history. The role of the commission as a coordinating institution that integrated the efforts of museum, educational, archival and scientific institutions, contributing to the formation of regional historiography, is substantiated. It is found that the local history movement acquired systematicity through a network of local initiatives, the publication of the «Bulletin of the Odessa Local History Commission» and the activation of interdisciplinary ties. At the same time, the influence of the political circumstances of the late 1920s, which led to the curtailment of local history activities, the closure of the commission and the marginalization of its achievements, is determined. The conclusions are drawn that in the 1920s–1930s, local history of Southern Ukraine functioned as a means of scientific mobilization, an instrument of cultural self-identification and a form of scientific and organizational work that integrated local initiatives into the national context. The results obtained emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to the analysis of historical and cultural processes in the region, as well as the relevance of further source and historiographical research for the reconstruction of the repressed scientific heritage.

The study allowed us to substantiate the importance of interdisciplinary and institutional approaches in the development of local history as an independent scientific field, which in the interwar period ensured both the preservation of cultural heritage and the formation of the basis for national historical memory. Further study of the heritage of the Odessa Commission of Local History opens up new prospects for the analysis of historical narratives, local identities and the role of regional studies in modern historiographical discourse.

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