The Hoover Institution Library & Archives' collections on Russia and the USSR are unmatched among Western archives, and continue to expand to the delight of researchers, particularly now, when travel to the Russian Federation for research is difficult.
Collections on the Russian Far East represent a particularly important direction for collecting, as this region remains little-known and under-studied in comparison with European Russia, despite its political and economic significance. As a result, the Library & Archives' acquisition of the Fedor Postnikov photograph album is a welcome addition and will help researchers better understand the history and potential of the Russian Far East.
The major city in the Russian Far East is Vladivostok: the most significant port on Russia’s Pacific coast and its economic, social, cultural, military, and political capital. Fedor Postnikov was appointed Vladivostok municipal architect in 1906, becoming one of the leading figures to give the city its character in the early 1900s.
His personal photographic album is a magnificent find: the numerous photographic prints depict new construction all along the city’s major thoroughfare, Svetlanskaia Street, including many of Postnikov’s own buildings, which are now considered architectural landmarks. This is a rare treasure for anyone writing on Vladivostok’s history, especially its architecture.
Postnikov was born in 1869 in Moscow and died in Vladivostok in 1909. This album, with its images dated between 1906 and 1908, is a tribute to his work in the Russian Far East.
Postnikov’s untimely death, caused by injuries sustained fighting a fire, underscored his role in the city’s rise at the turn of the twentieth century: aside from being municipal architect, he was also a member of the volunteer fire-fighting squad, and many photographs in the album depict the development of this vital service and his involvement in it.
The Postnikov album makes an excellent complement to other collections dealing with Vladivostok and the Russian Far East at this time, such as the Pavel Shkurkin papers, Boris Kriukov papers, Benjamin Davis papers, and Gladys Harris and Harvey Zilm photographs.
