Field and river

20th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (ICES20)
Mekelle University, Ethiopia

"Regional and Global Ethiopia - Interconnections and Identities"
1-5 October, 2018

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SOME REMARKS ON THE ETHIOPIAN PHOTO COLLECTIONS OF THE PETER THE GREAT MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY, ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA [Abstract ID: 1201-06]

SEMENOVA Valeria, The Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) Russian Ac. of Sciences

The Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography includes the photographic collection attributed to Ethiopia which numbers more than three and a half thousand images – photos, slides, and negatives, photograph albums received by the museum from Russians who worked or just traveled in Ethiopia. The main stock of this Ethiopian photo collection was augmented by the Russian doctors send to Abyssinia by the Russian Red Cross with a medical mission to support Ethiopians during the war against Italy from 1895-1896. For example, the collection No. И-349 was obtained from Dr. M. Lebedinsky's relatives. There are 586 images. Collection no. 4028 of the Russian mission officers includes 687 items. Besides the photographs of the hospital, these collections have struck our attention as they reflect the indigenous way of life in Abyssinia around 1900. However, these collections cannot compete in a range of represented materials of Dr. A. I. Kokhanovsky who worked for many years in Ethiopia (1905-1913) and was deeply fascinated with its culture. His collection includes more than a thousand negatives (1019 units of storage) and about three hundred photographic prints (342 units of storage) and can be considered a full-fledged ethno-historical source on Ethiopian culture from the early 20th century. This collection is a resource for political culture as well, serving a perfect complement to the materials at hand, such as diaries of Europeans traveling to Ethiopia and historical chronicles. This is a presentation of these materials.