Anthropological photography of the 1920s – early 1930s in the context of the development of national territories by the Soviet authorities
- Authors: Tolmacheva E.B.1
-
Affiliations:
- Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
- Issue: No 1 (2024)
- Pages: 133-150
- Section: Research Articles
- URL: https://cijournal.ru/0869-5415/article/view/672586
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869541524010073
- EDN: https://elibrary.ru/YEBVKU
- ID: 672586
Cite item
Abstract
The article is devoted to various aspects of the creation of anthropological photography in the 1920s – early 1930s. Taking the case of the history and development of a visual document, it presents the problems of scientific development of national territories. The peculiarities of formation of the complex of photographic images in the period of nation-building are considered in the context of priorities for choosing territories and ethnic groups for research, interaction with the authorities, and approach to working with the local population. The text shows the various situations in which anthropological photographic documents were created, and the reports that reflected scientific tasks of researchers. The history of the formation of the MAE RAS photographic collection is exemplified by the main stages and directions of research, the technical specificities of creating photographic documents and archiving them in the museum collection. The article further raises questions of author’s methodology for creating and collecting images, the problems related to the ethics of interaction with subjects and the publication of research materials.
Full Text

About the authors
Ekaterina B. Tolmacheva
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Author for correspondence.
Email: toek@kunstkamera.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8715-359X
к. и. н., заведующая лабораторией аудиовизуальной антропологии, старший научный сотрудник лаборатории музейных технологий, хранитель Фотонегатеки
Russian Federation, 3 University Emb., St. Petersburg, 199034References
- Ginzburg, V.V. 1968. Antropologiia v Akademii nauk [Anthropology at the Academy of Science]. In Ocherki istorii russkoi etnografii, fol’kloristiki i antropologii. Trudy Instituta etnografii imeni N.N. Miklukho-Maklaia. Novaia seriia [Essays on the History of Russian Ethnography, Folklore and Anthropology; Proceedings of the Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnography; A New Series], edited by S.P. Tolstov, 94 (IV): 188–215. Moscow: Nauka.
- Dudin, S.M. 1921. Fotografiia v etnograficheskikh poezdkakh [Photography on Ethnographic Journeys]. Kazanskii muzeinyi vestnik 1–2: 31–51.
- Dudin, S.M. 1923. Fotografiia v nauchnykh poezdkakh [Photography on Research Trips]. Kraevedenie 1: 31–46.
- Dudin, S.M. 1923. Fotografiia v nauchnykh poezdkakh [Photography on Research Trips]. Kraevedenie 2: 134–146.
- Hirsch, F. 2022. Imperiia natsii: etnograficheskoe znanie i formirovanie Sovetskogo Soiuza [Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union]. Moscow: NLO.
- Pavlovskii, O.M. 1962. O metodike fotograficheskoi dokumentatsii antropologicheskih issledovanii [On the Methodology of Photographic Documentation of Anthropological Research]. Voprosy antropologii 10: 98–109.
- Perevozchikov, I.V. 1987. Osnovy antropologicheskoi fotografii [Basics of Anthropological Photography]. Moscow: MGU.
- Petrov, G.I. 1933. Materialy Buriat-Mongol’skoi antropologicheskoi ekspeditsii 1931 goda [Materials of the 1931 Buryat-Mongol Anthropological Expedition]. Pt. 1, Obzor rabot ekspeditsii [Review of the Work of the Expedition]. Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR.
- Sinelnikov, N.A. 1926. O metodakh antropologicheskoi fotografii [On the Methods of Anthropological Photography]. Russkii antropologicheskii zhurnal 14 (3–4): 99–102.
- Teriukov, A.I. 2013. Kollektsii I.N. Shukhova v sobranii MAE RAN [I.N. Shukhov Collections in the MAE RAS Collection]. In Radlovskii sbornik: nauchnye issledovaniia i muzeinye proekty MAE RAN v 2012 g. [Radlovsky Collection: Scientific Research and Museum Projects of the MAE RAS in 2012], edited by Y.K. Chistov, 225–232. St. Petersburg: MAE RAN.
- Vishnevskii, B.N. 1929. Antropologicheskoe izuchenie chuvash. K otchetu po issledovaniiam 1927 g. [Anthropological Study of the Chuvash: To the Report of the 1927 Research]. In Materialy komissii ekspeditsionnykh issledovanii. Seriia chuvashskaia, Chuvashskaia respublika. Sb. 1, Predvaritel’nye itogi rabot chuvashskoi ekspeditsii AN SSSR po issledovaniiam 1927 g. [Proceedings of the Expeditionary Research Commission; Chuvash Series, The Chuvash Republic. Bk. 1, Preliminary Results of the Chuvash Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR on the Studies of 1927] 10: 229–252. Leningrad: Izdatel’stvo AN SSSR.
Supplementary files
