SOCIETY FOR
CO-OPERATION IN RUSSIAN AND
SOVIET STUDIES
.
PHOTO LIBRARY    
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  The SCRSS Photo Library was established in 1943 and contains some 60,000 colour and black/white photographs, slides, and realia covering all aspects of cultural life in Russia and the former Soviet Union from pre-1917 to the present. It ranges from art, architecture, cinema and theatre, to the Russian Revolution, the Second World War and contemporary Russia. The collection is a unique visual resource for the professional picture researcher, set dresser, designer, and drama student, and is backed up by an excellent reference library.

The Collection

The SCRSS Photo Library comprises a comprehensive collection of photographs and slides on Russian and Soviet themes, including:

  • Art and architecture
  • Theatre, film and literature
  • Soviet posters
  • Ballet and music
  • Everyday life from Tsarist times to the present day
  • Agriculture and industry
  • The Russian Revolution
  • World War II
  • Russian and Soviet personalities
  • Space travel
  • Sport
  • Cities and regions
  • All countries of the former Soviet Union: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan

Historic images of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union are complemented by a collection of slides of modern Russia taken by contemporary photographers.

The Photo Library includes two important photographic collections focusing on the 1920s-30s in the USSR:

The Huntly Carter Collection is a superb resource on early Soviet architecture and theatre, including production photographs, set and costume design. Huntly Carter was struck by the vitality, humanity and civilising force of the new Russian theatre which had developed after the Revolution. An author and lecturer on Russian theatre (his works include The New Spirit in the Russian Theatre 1917-28, published in 1929), he gathered together a remarkable collection of photographs of original productions in the new Russian theatres, from the Revolution through to the 1930s.

The Cicely Osmond Collection is an excellent source of images focusing on Soviet education in the 1920s-30s. Cicely Osmond was a teacher, social worker, socialist and enthusiastic Esperantist who travelled widely in the Soviet Union from the early 1930s to the 1970s. During visits to Soviet pioneer camps, schools and kindergartens in the 1930s, she amassed a unique collection of photographs, books and posters on Soviet education and training. However, her interests were wide and the Cicely Osmond collection also includes photographs of workers' buildings, cultural centres, landscape architecture, agriculture, and everyday life in the USSR.

View our colour illustrated brochure (PDF, 1,039 KB).

Terms and conditions

Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday
10 - 1pm, 2 - 6pm

Research is by appointment only. Please contact the SCRSS.

 

scrss russian and soviet photograph and slide collection: Soviet film director Dzhiga Vertov

 

scrss russian and soviet photograph and slide collection: Russian short story and theatre writer Anton Chekhov with his actress wife Olga Knipper

 

scrss russian and soviet photograph and slide collection: Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

  
 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

  
           

Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies
320 Brixton Road. London. SW9 6AB
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7274 2282 Fax: +44 (0)20 7274 3230

Email: ruslibrary@scrss.org.uk Web: www.scrss.org.uk