Photos by Prokudin-Gorskii

by Diana Dawson Plattner

From the Library of Congress: “The Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection features color photographic surveys of the vast Russian Empire made between ca. 1905 and 1915…. An active photographer and scientist, Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook most of his ambitious color documentary project from 1909 to 1915.”

Man standing next to cotton in Sukhumi Botanical Garden, about 1910.

Mills (in Ialutorovsk district of Tobolsk Province), 1912.

Peasant girls (Russian Empire), 1909.

Link to the full archive: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/prok/

Another 1800+ photos at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library: http://www.prlib.ru/en-us/Lib/pages/search.aspx?schquery=prokudin-gorskii&skPort=true