Russian Archives Online

[anna balint]

[For longtime only documentarists who got a special permission could have access to the Central Russian Film and 
Image Archives. Now even the famous RUSSIAN STATE DOCUMENTARY FILM & PHOTO ARCHIVE
AT KRASNOGORSK (RGAKFD) is open and offers besides the online catalogues, a quite vaste online clip,  photo, 
slide selection as well.  Looking for a Gagarin Real Slide Show? Eisenstein filmography? Soviet  Propaganda Posters          
& Cartoons of the 20th Century? Funny enough, the first political poster i found in the archives exhibition is the work of 
an unknown artist dated 1917-1924 called "There is a spectre haunting Europe; the spectre of Communism.". 
greetings, ab.]

http://www.russianarchives.com/rao/archives/index.html

In the ARCHIVES you will find information about each archive's 
collections, history, and links to their exhibits on RAO. In addition, 
several of these archives have searchable catalogues and/or 
gallery images on RAO.
RAO's greatest assets are the relationships with these premier archives and organizations:
The Russian State Documentary Film & Photo Archive at Krasnogorsk (RGAKFD)
The Russian State Archive of Scientific & Technical Documents in Moscow (RGANTD)
The Russian State Museum of Oriental Art
The Baikal Museum Complex (Lake Baikal)
The Hoover Institution's Russian Collection at Stanford University
The Russian-American Center of San Francisco
Abamedia's Film Archive

Looking for hard to get, never before exposed images and sounds
from the vast territory of the former Soviet Union?  
Russian Archives Online represents prominent archives like the 
Russian State Film & Photo Archive at Krasnogorsk - RGAKFD,
Russian State Archive of Scientific & Technical Documents - RGANTD 
and various other institutions of the Russian State....one of the largest owners
of images and sounds in the world.
Here, you will find collections of Russian archival collections of
photographs and films, audio, clips and transcripts from the 15 republics 
of the former Soviet Union, including Russia, Ukraine,  Georgia and many more.
Visit The Gallery, and try a search or two in our image catalogues.


THE  RUSSIAN STATE DOCUMENTARY FILM & PHOTO ARCHIVE
AT KRASNOGORSK (RGAKFD)
F I L M   C O L L E C T I O N
The  Krasnogorsk Archive's Film Collection documents the entire history 
of Russian filmmaking, beginning with the footage of the coronation 
of Tsar Nicholas  II taken by Camile Serf, a cameraman of the 
Lumiere Brothers in 1896 and continuing with 1,000 films shot before 
1917.
The  Archive holds almost all periodic newsreels from 1919 to 1985, 
documenting the news stories of the Soviet Union: politics, wars, 
disasters, trials, and the people and places of the U.S.S.R. Footage 
is available concerning both World Wars, the Soviet invasions
in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan, the Cold War and 
its Cuban Missile Crisis and space race, Vietnam, and the collapse 
of Communism. The world of literature, art, sports, and the day-to-day 
life of the Soviet and Russian people are also vividly represented 
among the films of the Archive.
The archive consists of
46,536 original negatives
31,683 duplicate positives
51,825 working positives
6,386 duplicate negatives
14,655 magnetic film soundtracks
26,754 optical soundtracks

P H O T O G R A P H Y   C O L L E C T I O N
An extensive collection of photos and negatives within the vaults of 
the Archive document events from over a century ago to the present. 
Many early photos were arranged in large albums according to subject. 
Among these are 300 personal albums of the Tsars. Although mostly
documentary in nature, the Archive does hold work by many famous 
Russian still photographers.
Early photographs include the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78, 
the Russian-Japanese War 1904-05, views of early construction, 
portraits of military officers, and the personal life of the Tsar's family. 
Events of the Russian Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the First World War, 
and the Civil War of 1918-1921 are preserved through photos of 
street barricades, policemen arrested by citizens, meetings and 
demonstrations, various battles, funerals of the victims, and 
portraits of political and military leaders representing all sides. 
Over 85,000 photos document the Soviet-German front during World 
War II while revealing the tragedy of retreat and the bitterness 
of loss, the fury of attacks and the joys of victory. Soviet leaders, 
economic initiatives, and propaganda in the postwar USSR, are 
also represented in the Archive.
The archive holds
692,306 negatives
28,342 prints
10,376 photo albums Introduction History