Fwd: Photoalbum Exportles Leningrad Port 1931

Perhaps someone on Shera has suggestions for Gijs Kessler. The photo  
is interesting. Wish there were more.

Begin forwarded message:

>
> From: Gijs Kessler <[email protected]>
> Date: March 23, 2011
>
>
> Recently our library acquired a photoalbum with the title  
> "Exportles. Leningrad Port, 1931". It contains a series of black and  
> white pictures shot mostly in 1931 (but some in 1930 and 1932) of  
> work, work conditions and mechanization at the Leningrad port where  
> timber was shipped for export. The album must have been produced  
> only in small numbers, as the captions to the photos are  
> handwritten. Neither is there any other indication of publisher or  
> whatever except for the gilded caption "Exportles. Leningrad Port,  
> 1931" on the front cover.
>
> Scans of the front cover and one of the pictures can be found at:
>
> http://195.91.168.101/photo/photo_thumb.php?dir=4578706f72746c65732031393331
>
> The pictures are not obvious propaganda pictures, but rather  
> constitute a balanced effort to show the modernity of both the port  
> and the living and working conditions of the workers at the port.
>
> Unfortunately the person who donated the album to our library does  
> not have any further information as to where it came from or what  
> its purpose was, and I write to this list in the hope that some of  
> the subscribers could provide me with some clues or indications.
>
> The captions to the photos are in English, with some spelling  
> mistakes which give away the Soviet provenance of the album, and was  
> therefore likely produced to the benefit of foreign clients,  
> contacts or governments.
>
> Something that came to my mind was that the album might have been  
> part of a public relations drive to counter the allegations of the  
> British Anti-Slavery society on the use of forced labour in the  
> Soviet timber industry (cf. Pim, Alan, Edward Bateson, and Lord  
> Buckmaster. 1931. Report on Russian Timber camps, by Sir Alan  
> Pim,... and Edward Bateson,... with a preface by the Rt. Hon. Lord  
> Buckmaster. London: E. Benn limited.). The export market was a much- 
> needed source of hard currency income for industrialization and the  
> allegations of the use of forced labour might have been perceived as  
> a potential threat in this respect.
>
> But of course the album could also be just one of a limited number  
> of albums produced for large foreign clients as a gift or smth. of  
> that kind.
>
> Has anyone ever seen other copies of this or a similar album, and if  
> so, where did they come from and what was their background? What  
> other theories could be constructed concerning its purpose? What  
> other leads might there be to trace the background of this album?
>
>
> --------
> Gijs Kessler
> Head Collection Development Eastern Europe and Russia
> International Institute of Social History
> Amsterdam, The Netherlands

_______________________________________________
Shera mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.oakland.edu/mailman/listinfo/shera