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Color Photography from the Early 1900’s

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The photographs of Russian photographer and chemist, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, show Russia just before World War I and the arrival of the revolution. From 1909-1912 and in 1915, Prokudin-Gorskii traveled across the Russian Empire, documenting the life of citizens, landscapes and the work of Russain people. His images were to be a photographic survey at that time. He traveled in a special train-car transformed into a dark room to process his color images, a technology that was just discovered in the early 1900’s. Prokudin-Gorskii left Russia in 1918, after the Russian Revolution had destroyed the Russian Empire he spent years documenting.

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Church in the village of Shaidoma.

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Peasant children, Russia. The young women offer berries to visitors.

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Trans-Siberian Railway metal truss bridge on stone piers, over the Kama River near Perm, Ural Mountains Region.

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Cotton textile mill interior with machines producing cotton thread, probably in Tashkent.

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Man and camel loaded with packs.

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Three yurts, man seated in doorway of yurt in foreground.

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Altar side of the Dmitrievskii Cathedral, Vladimir.

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Bashkir switchman.

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Isfandiyar, Khan of the Russian protectorate of Khorezm (Khiva), full-length portrait, in uniform, seated on chair, outdoors.

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Austrian prisoners of war near a barrack, near Kiappeselga.

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Photographer posing with two others

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Shuia River

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In Little Russia (Ukraine)

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Alim Khan, Emir of Bukhara, seated holding sword

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Log buildings in the Ural Mountain Region

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Corner tower of the Trinity Cathedral in the Solovetskii Monastery, Solovetski Islands

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Boy standing by wooden gatepost

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Work at the Bakalskii mine

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Bashkir’s yard, Ekhia

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Rafts on the Peter the Great Canal. City of Shlisselburg, Russia.

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City of Cherdyn

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Old church of Saint Nicholas the Wonder Worker, Nyrob

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Church in Vetluga settlement

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Andrei Petrov Kalganov. Former master in the plant. Seventy-two years old, has worked at the plant for fifty-five years. He was fortunate to present bread and salt to His Imperial Majesty, the Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II, Zlatoust

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Dvinsk, Roman Catholic church

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Mills in Ialutorovsk district of Tobolsk Province

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Molding shop at the Kasli plant

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On the Karolitskhali River, self portrait of photographer Prokudin-Gorskii in suit and hat, seated on rock beside the Karolitskhali River, with mountains in background

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Assumption Cathedral in the Goritskii Monastery, near Pereiaslavl-Zalesskii

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Chapel on Olga hill, Russia

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Garden of the M.P.S. (Ministry of Communication and Transportation) and Saint Paul sluice, Deviatiny, Russia.

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Pinkhus Karlinskii, eighty-four years. Sixty-six years of service. Supervisor of Chernigov floodgate, Russia.

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Crew of the steamship “Sheksna” of the M.P.S. (Ministry of Communication and Transportation), Russia.

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Sawmill, Oka River, Several men standing near a sawmill.

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Church of the Resurrection in the Grove (from the other side), Kostroma.

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Dagestani types, Group of women posed outdoors.

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Gallery in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, Rostov Velikii.

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Construction of iron-concrete frames for the lock’s walls, Beloomut, Uniformed man posed in framework of lock.

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Mosque in Vladikavkaz

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General view of the Shakh-i Zindeh mosque (evening photo), Samarkand.

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Shepherd posed near a hillside, Samarkand.

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Georgian woman standing on a carpet, outside, near a tree.

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Mugan, Settler’s family, Settlement of Grafovka.

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Group of workers harvesting tea. Greek women, Chakva.

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Dagestani types, Man and woman posed outdoors.

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General view of the Likanskii palace from the Kura River.

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Portion of entrance door on right side of Tillia-Kari, Samarkand.

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On the Saimaa Lake.

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Camel caravan carrying thorns for fodder, Golodnaia Steppe.

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Melon vendor, Samarkand.

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At work on the upper reaches of the Syr-Darya, Golodnaia Steppe, Four men on a horse-drawn cart, next to a cliff.

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Migrant farmstead in the settlement of Nadezhdinsk with a group of peasants, Golodnaia Steppe.

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