Harvard Library's Slavic Blog

The Poliksena N. Shishkina-Iavein digital image collection

HOLLIS # 013606912

This new digital collection of over 140 images documents the life of Poliksena N. Shishkina-Iavein (1875-1947). A physician and leading member of the pre-revolutionary Russian feminist movement, she is best known for her pivotal role in securing the vote for Russia’s women in 1917. The collection contains photographs of events and philanthropic enterprises organized by the St. Petersburg-based Russian League for Women’s Equal Rights, which Shishkina-Iavein chaired from 1910 through 1917. These include meetings at the League’s headquarters, the opening of the First All-Russian Congress on Women’s Education in 1912, literacy courses for women, an infirmary for wounded soldiers, and a dormitory for female refugees. Also included are photographs of Shishkina-Iavein and her collaborators, among them League co-founder Ol’ga Ianovskaia and the politician Count Ivan Tolstoi, who represented the League’s interests in the State Duma. Found in the collection as well are newspaper clippings, posters for speeches and public debates at which Shishkina-Iavein presided, and a series of postcards issued by the League in 1914, honoring prominent female artists, scientists, writers, and politicians. In addition, the collection contains photographs of Shishkina-Iavein’s husband, children, and other family members.

All text and annotations that appear in the photographs have been transcribed and translated into English, making them fully searchable in HOLLIS Images and the images suitable for research by users who do not read Russian. A digital finding aid contains links to all the images, as well as further biographic and historical details.

The hard-copy originals remain in St. Petersburg with Shishkina-Iavein’s granddaughter, Nonna Igorevna Iavein, who generously permitted the Davis Center Collection at Fung Library to create digital copies and make them available to a wider audience. Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild was instrumental in bringing about this digitization project.

(This post was contributed by Svetlana Rukhelman, Davis Center Collection)