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Turkestan AlbumPrints and Photographs DivisionCollection digitized? Yes. See Access section below. Introduction | Access | Obtaining Reproductions | Permissions and Credits | Related Resources | Bibliography
IntroductionThe Turkestanskii Al’bom (Turkestan Album) provides a visual survey of Central Asia from the perspective of the Russian imperial government that took control of the area in the 1850s and 1860s. About 1,200 photographs, with some architectural plans, watercolor drawings, and maps, are arranged in four parts.
Konstantin Petrovich Von Kaufman (1818-1882), the first governor general of Russian Turkestan, commissioned the albums to acquaint Russians and Westerners with the region. The Russian orientalist A.L. Kun (also spelled Kuhn) compiled the first three parts, and the albums were formerly referred to as the Kun Collection. The other compilers included M.T. Brodovskii, M.A. Terentyev, N.V. Bogaevskii and photographer N.N. Nekhoroshev. The Military-Topographic Department, Military District of Tashkent printed the lithographic parts of each plate. The production work was primarily done in St. Petersburg and Tashkent in 1871-72. To read the compilers' characterization of the project, view the foreword (English translation by Heather S. Sonntag) [PDF file, 29 kb., 2 p.] ( Download Adobe Reader for PDFs ).
Physically, each large green leather-bound volume is 45 x 60 cm. (17.7 x 23.6 in.) Following a printed title page, textual introduction, and list of captions, the visual plates appear with lithographically printed running headings, decorative borders, and individual captions in Russian. Each plate contains from one to eight gold-toned albumen photographic prints, with occasional watercolor drawings, architectural plans, and battle maps. The Library of Congress purchased the albums in 1934 from New York City book dealer Israel Perlstein. Other copies have survived in the National Library of Uzbekistan and the National Library of Russia.  Top
of Page AccessThe album images are available online in two viewing arrangements:
The table below summarizes the contents of each album and gives access to each type of view.
The two types of views above enable researchers to examine the albums as artifacts, as well as to explore the visual content of individual images in detail. To locate an individual image in the grid and album views, retrieve the catalog record for the album (you can search the number using the middle part of the identification number) and browse to the image in question. For example, to retrieve LC-DIG-ppmsca-09951-00003, search for ppmsca 09951 and go to the third image. Researchers can also find individual catalog records for each image when they search by subject matter, place name, or caption keyword. These records help researchers discover Turkestan Album images alongside images from other collections that feature similar topics or geographic focus. To look at catalog records created for individual images, search for the call number "DK854.T87" [view individual catalog records]. The original albums are very fragile. Researchers work with the digital images instead of the original volumes to help preserve these treasures. A contractor, DataTrac, made the digital images in 2006 for the Library of Congress. A microfilm made in 1982 is also available in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room by requesting LOT 11688 (M). Top
of Page
Obtaining ReproductionsUsers may download images themselves or can order copies through the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service. Orders must include the reproduction number of the desired image. Example: LC-DIG-ppmsca-09947-00002. Permissions and CreditsNo restrictions are known on publication or other forms of distribution of the images in the Turkestan Album. Please cite the source of the image with the credit line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-DIG-ppmsca-09947-00002]. Related ResourcesIn the Prints & Photographs DivisionAtlas anthropologique des peuples du Ferghanah / par Ch. E. De Ujfalvy de Mezo-Kövesd ... Paris : Ernest Leroux, 1879. Call number: GN635.T8 U5 (Case X) À travers le Turkestan russe : ouvrage illustré de deux cent-soixante-cinq gravures d'après les clichés de l'auteur et contenant une carte en couleurs / Hugues Krafft. Paris : Hachette et Cie, 1902. Call number: DK854 .K89 (Case Y) Prokudin-Gorskii, Sergeii Mikhailovich. Views in Central Asia, Russian Empire. Photographs, 1905-1915. Call number: LOT 10338 (H) [cite call number, even though we don't serve?]. Available online: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/proka.0010a Elsewhere in the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress, African
and Middle Eastern Division Selected BibliographyParker, Brenda. “Turkestanskii Al’bom: Portrait of a Faraway Place and Another Time.” Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 40 (Fall 1983): 284-341. Sonntag, Heather S. "Re-viewing a Portrait of Empire in Central Asia: The 'Turkestan Album' Exposed." In Abstracts of Papers Presented at the Central Eurasian Studies Society, 6th Annual Conference, 2005. http://www.cess.muohio.edu/CESSpg_conf_abstracts2005.html. Vanderbilt, Paul. "Kun Collection." In Guide to the Special Collections of Prints & Photographs in the Library of Congress, 92. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1955. Wikipedia includes numerous articles and maps related to the history of Central Asia. A few representative examples include:
Acknowledgment:
Heather S. Sonntag
transliterated and translated all
of the captions in 2005-2006, while
completing her doctoral thesis about
these albums. The Prints & Photographs
Division is very grateful for her
work. Harry Leich, Russian
Area Specialist, Library of Congress
European Division, provided editorial
guidance. |
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