This article is devoted to the current issues of development of domestic historiography of Birsk Teachers' Institute (BUI) as a higher pedagogical education in the USSR in the middle of the 20th century. The authors of the article considered all aspects of studying the formation and development of the Birsk university in 1939-1952 by domestic historians. The article notes that during the Soviet period, information about the history of BUI was pub-lished extremely rarely and was of a reference nature. At the beginning of the 21st century, the history of BUI be-gan to be studied from a professional point of view. The pioneer of the study of the topic was the reference manual by Yu. N. Sergeyev "Birsk Teachers' Institute: structural divisions and teaching staff (1939-1952)", dedicated to the structural divisions and teaching staff of BUI. The main role in creating a complete picture of the history of the initial stage of the history of BUI is played by historians-employees of the Birsk university Yu. N. Sergeev, R. R. Khamidullin, A. P. Alexandrov and others. They devote their works to both general aspects of the history of BUI and consider the history of structural divisions. Some of the scientific works are devoted to the pedagogical path of the university staff, and in recent years, to graduates of individual faculties. The role of BUI is noted in a number of candidate dissertations by M.Sh. Shagieva, E.D. Khadimullina. The result can be considered the publication of a monographic study "History of the Development of Higher Pedagogical Education in the City of Birsk (On the 75th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Birsk Teachers' Institute)", in which BUI is considered as an integral part and a special stage in the development of higher pedagogical education in a small town in Bashkortostan.