Ivan Serafimovich Sharapov

About museum

Ivan Serafimovich was born on April 15, 1940 in the village of Nikolsky, Namsky District, Yakut ASSR. Ivan's childhood took place during the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War. His father, Serafim Nikolaevich, was chairman of the Nikolsky village council. In 1942, when Ivan was one and a half years old, his father was conscripted to defend the Motherland in the Great Patriotic War, where he heroically died near Rzhev. The fragile shoulders of his mother, Maria Innokentyevna, were left with three sons. After finishing school, Ivan served in the ranks of the Soviet Army from 1960 to 1963. From 1964 to 1969 he studied at the Omsk Agricultural Institute, training as a mechanical engineer. He began his working career as an engineer in the Namsky agricultural administration. From 1976 to 1980 he worked as chief engineer of the Namsky association 'Selkhoztekhnikа', where over the years of his service Ivan Serafimovich revealed his organizational abilities, completed practical training, and masterfully mastered complex agricultural machinery, increasing its efficiency of use. Over the years the material and technical base of the district's state farms improved, and the collective of the 'Selkhoztekhnikа' association became known in the republic and in Russia for its high production performance. From 1980 the district organized the association 'Selkhozkhimiya', where Ivan Serafimovich was appointed chairman. 

Large-scale work was carried out across the district to improve the structure of arable land. As a result, the area of cultivated haymaking lands increased; on arable lands the effective use of mineral and organic fertilizers improved, which raised the yields of agricultural crops. 

The Namsky district 'Selkhozkhimiya' association became the recipient of the banners of the Party Central Committee, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Central Council of Trade Unions for repeated victories in socialist competitions among associations in the republic and in the Union.  

From 1986 to 1993 Ivan Serafimovich worked as first deputy chairman and then chairman of the district Agro-Industrial Association. During this period he founded the 'Agriculture' museum in his native Nikolsky nasleg. From 1993 to 1995 he served as chairman of the Council of Nikolsky nasleg, where he played a major role in establishing a separate Nasleg Council. 

In later years he worked as a manager of affairs for the Republican Federation of Trade Unions and as head of personnel at the 'Hotu' sanatorium. 

For long and conscientious service to the national economy, in 1991, by decree of the first President of the RSFSR dated December 2, 1991, he was among the first in the republic to be awarded the honorary title 'Honored Worker of Agriculture of the RSFSR', and he is an Honorary Citizen of Namsky Ulus. In 2005, in order to perpetuate the memory of Ivan Serafimovich Sharapov, the Nikolsky Museum of Agriculture was named after him.

 The year 2025 is an anniversary date — the 85th anniversary of the museum founder, the outstanding compatriot Ivan Serafimovich Sharapov.