As a part of Prokudin-Gorskii’s album of Russia as an empire under Tsarist rule, we find multiple photographs of working people and labor in general. These photographs of course catch my attention because of my work and interest in labor and work, and I want to pivot this blog’s attention to the topic as much … Continue reading Industry’s Backfire On Imperial Rule →
Category: First Research Digest
Going off the Rails on a Murmansk Train
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Here is a picture taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky in 1915. The photo is called Ladva Station on the Murmansk Railroad. Uneveness of the Railway. Prokudin captured this photo (along with thousands of others) while traveling through the Russia Empire. Murmansk is a port city in northwest Russia. It was the last city founded in the Russian Empire. Murmansk gives people in western Russia highway … Continue reading Going off the Rails on a Murmansk Train →
Fishing for Change
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Prokudin-Gorskii was born in 1863, and was educated as a chemist. He was fascinated with color photography, and worked along side a multitude of renown scientists, in order to advance color photographic technology. His goal was “to educate the schoolchildren of Russia with his ‘optical color projections’ of the vast and diverse history, culture, and … Continue reading Fishing for Change
Zlatoust, “Golden Tongued” Double Etched Sword
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This image from Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) depicts Zlatoust Station, located outside the Ural Mountains in the northwest area of present-day Chelyabinsk Oblast. Between 1909 and 1912, Prokudin-Gorskii made many trips to this area capturing images of railroads, factories, urbanization, and nature. It is no mistake that zlatoust means golden-tongued in Russian. Founded … Continue reading Zlatoust, “Golden Tongued” Double Etched Sword
Some Irregular Industrialization
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Russia through the mid to late 19th century was undergoing the tumultuous process of industrialization, which resulted in the problematic abolition of serfdom, and the strenuous attempt to move traditionally rural citizens into industrializing regions. This process took place with varying degrees of success, but some regions on the peripheries of the Empire experienced the … Continue reading Some Irregular Industrialization →
Blog Post #1
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In the summer of 1905, with the army off fighting the Japanese in the eastern frontiers, workers were seeing their acts of defiance go unpunished as the state started granting concessions to the people. The Shidlovskii Commission was started by the Tsar to uncover the reasoning behind the unrest being expressed by his people. Unfortunately, […]
Prokudin-Gorskii Photograph
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Image from: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/prokc.21114/ Factual information about photo from: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/architecture.html When looking at the photographs taken by Prokudin-Gorskii, I wanted to really focus on the images that had a significant historical background to go with them. I felt as though the pictures with more background would really provide a better insight to the social and economic changes …
Zlatoust Factory
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The photo is showing a production shop for scabbards at the Zlatoust plant taken in 1910. Scabbards are the leather or metal protective cover for swords or knife’s, which were very important as swords were mass produced. Prokudin-Gorskii was able to capture this image and many others during this time with the help from Tsar … Continue reading Zlatoust Factory →
Railroads: Industrializing and Expanding Eastwards
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Globally, railways were the predominant way of expanding during the 19th century. Starting with the first transcontinental railroad built in America during the 1860s that helped “tame” the Wild West, the latter half of the 1800s saw a vast increase in the number of rail miles in the world. This change was prominent in Russia, … Continue reading Railroads: Industrializing and Expanding Eastwards
Harvesting Tea by Prokudin-Gorskii
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Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii’s photo, “A Group of Workers Harvesting Tea,” is a clear example of Russia’s changing economic structure and strange contradictory nature. The photo, taken between 1907 and 1915, depicts workers picking tea in a field on the outskirts of the Russian empire. They are dressed in light, loose-fitting clothing and are tasked with … Continue reading Harvesting Tea by Prokudin-Gorskii →
