A Hidden Photo Album Found During Renovation in the Russian Geographical Society’s Headquarters
June 15, 2010. The President of the Russian Geographical Sergei Shoigu visited the renovations in the House of Geography in Saint-Petersburg and was shown an unexpected discovery.
A 19th century photo album with portraits of officers of the General Staff, who participated in the Russian Geographical Society’s expeditions, was hidden in the building during the post-revolution era.
During Sergei Shoigu’s tour of the building, the President of the Russian Geographical Society was shown a recently discovered photo album, which was found during preparation for renovations. The album was found in a hiding place in of one of the wings of the Society’s headquarters, where there used to be a storage facility.
According to the specialists of the Russian Geographical Society, the photo album was made to mark a twenty year anniversary (from 1861 to 1881) of the Russian officers’ participation in the Society’s expeditions. During that period, Russian geographers and officers were actively engaged in exploring the territory of Russia and neighboring states. The album contained photographs of the officers of the General Stuff, who were involved in the Russian Society’s work. Many of these officers were full members of the Society.
The “Asian Section” page of the album boasts a portrait of Nikolai Przhevalsky, the famous explorer, who conducted several expeditions to Central Asia. Among the professors of the General Staff Academy there is a portrait of zoologist Leopold von Schrenck, who participated in the Zabaykalsky expedition in 1849-1853, organized by the General Staff and the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, and a portrait of General-Lieutenant Nikolai Tsinger, an astronomer and cartographer, founder of the Russian geodesic school.
The cover of the photo album is missing; its pages are wrapped in paper. Evidently, during the Soviet era somebody from the Society’s staff saved the album from being destroyed.
Many resources pertaining to the history of the Russian Geographical Society were lost during the Revolution of 1917, the Civil War and the repressions of the 1930s. By the same token, back in the 1970s travel notes of a repressed geneticist Nokolai Vavilov were found. Vavilov was a president of the All-Union Geographical Society in 1931-1940.
The photo album is beautifully trimmed, but because of the damage the text is almost lost. The Society is planning to have it restored. On June 15 the photographs of the album pages will be displayed on the Russian Geographical Society’s website www.rgo.ru.
Investigation will be conducted to find out which expeditions of the Society the officers whose pictures are in the photo album participated. We hope to uncover what kind of work each of them did in the territory of Russia and the nearby states. This will allow us to open new and forgotten pages of the history of the Russian Geographical Society.
