Harvard Library's Slavic Blog

Padomju Latvijas 25. Gadadienai / 25 Years of Soviet Latvia

HOLLIS # 010022937

In 1965 the USSR celebrated the 25th anniversary of the restoration of Soviet power in Latvia. The date was marked by festivals, a commemorative stamp, a special meeting of the Latvian Communist Party’s central committee, the opening of the now-famous restaurant Jūras pērle in Jūrmala, and numerous other events and publications.

One such publication was a photo exhibit prepared in Riga by the Latvian Society for Friendship and Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries. Intended “to tell our friends abroad about Soviet Latvia” and issued by the Riga publisher Respublikanskii dom znanii, the exhibit consisted of 60 photographs depicting various facets of economic development and everyday life in the republic. Its focus was on eight categories: manufacturing, agriculture, fishing industry, science, child care and education, new construction, culture, and public health/sport. Captions in the accompanying booklet described each image, seeking to emphasize the progress the republic had made in these spheres since being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. Now the photographs and booklet are available online. The images are accompanied by their respective captions in the original Russian and in English translation, making the collection accessible to non-Russian-speakers. All text is fully searchable in HOLLIS Images.

The original photographs underwent preservation at the Weissman Preservation Center and are held by the Davis Center Collection at Fung Library.

(The contents for this post were contributed by Svetlana Rukhelman, Davis Center Collection)