Presidential Library enlarges its holdings by attracting photo archives of its partners

The contemporary history is to be reflected in the Presidential Library collections, in particular by using photographs, Valentin Sidorin, Acting Director General of the Presidential Library said at the roundtable discussion “The Contemporary History through Photographs - The Chronicle of Our Time”. He also highlighted that vivid profound photographs were the means of development of library collections. The roundtable discussion brought together a lot of specialists involved in building up archival collections at their organizations.

Olga Barysheva, Intellectual Property Adviser to the Director General of the National Library of Russia, who attended the meeting, said that the organization was looking for authors of photographs of late Vladimir Nikolayevich Zaytsev, former Director General of the National Library of Russia, who had made a significant contribution towards the development of the National Library of Russia and librarianship as a whole. The exhibition “Our Person in the Epoch” is currently being prepared in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of his birth. Valentin Sidorin came up with a proposal to join the efforts of two libraries and launch two exhibitions in memory of Vladimir Zaitsev – virtual and multimedia. In this case it would be available not just to Internet users.

There are a lot of genuine artists among the almost forgotten masters of photography in Russia, who used to be well-known. Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Kovalenko - an experimental photographer at the turn of the 1920s - 1930s, is an excellent example. Journalist Artyom Klassen showed his vivid and unusual works as a part of the interesting presentation. The photography artist made spectacular studio works, captured significant events of his time, and also made self-portraits. Collector Artyom Klassen said that he was going to provide this valuable materials to the Presidential Library for digitization.   

Journalist Natalya Osipova joined the discussion via video conferencing from the Reserve Center of the Presidential Library in Moscow and showed materials, which cast the light on the century-long history of Izvestiya newspaper. She also presented the richly illustrated “Izvestiya – The Century-Long History” publication.

No one expected that the school archive of the last decades could stir up emotions much the same as the social upheavals at the beginning of the century. Svetlana Tishinyan, Head of the Domodedovo Secondary School No.6 Library, told about the heroes of labor, talented teachers and ordinary villagers, who left school, and proved that it was an important historical document.

Yuri Popov, representative of “VOIN” Interregional War Veterans Public Organization, who attended the meeting, said that his association was going to provide the photographs to the Presidential Library. The photographs show the events of the last two world wars and recent armed conflicts, in which “VOIN” veterans took part.

“Any museum without photographs is not a museum”, Vladimir Galant, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Director of Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard Museum, stated and offered the plant’s photograph collection to the Presidential Library. It could enter “The Russian State and Economy” collection available on the portal of the library. Similar proposals were made by Alexander Lebedev - Head of the Public Relations Department of the Baltic Shipyard, and Alexander Ivanov - Head of the Public Relations Department of “Iceberg” Central Design Bureau.

While summing up the results of the productive discussion, Valentin Sidorin suggested following the usual cooperation algorithm: conclude the bilateral agreement and then transfer the priceless historical documents for digitization.