International Brigades Archive, Moscow: Selected Images
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Abstract
This collection of images was selected from the International Brigades Archive in Moscow, Series 5: Photographs. They were originally produced in Spain by staff photographers of the International Brigades. The collection consists of copy negatives produced for and purchased by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives in the mid-1990s. The collection includes group portraits, individual portraits and battlefield and non-combat scenes showing members and activities of the International Brigades (14th, 15th, 57th, 58th, 59th and 60th Battalions), and civilians during the Spanish Civil War. The only identified photographer is Major Vladimir Stefanovich, a Yugoslavian volunteer. Included are images of the International Brigades training, life in camp, the International Brigades Band, Spanish Republican military leaders, Communist Party leaders and distinguished visitors, including Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, and Harry Pollitt.
Historical/Biographical Note
The "International Brigades Archive, Moscow: Selected Images" is an artificial collection consisting of copy negatives made from images in the International Brigades Archive, which forms part of the Comintern Archive, housed at the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) in Moscow. The Moscow IB Archive is comprised of documents and other materials transported to the Soviet Union by Soviet authorities at the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War. Series 5 within IB Archive (Fond 545) consists of photographs taken in Spain from 1937 to 1938 by various photographers associated with the International Brigades. The only identified photographer for any of the images in this group is a Yugoslavian volunteer, Major Vladimir Stefanovich.
In the mid-1990s, as part of preparations for an ALBA-sponsored traveling photograph exhibit, representatives of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives Board of Governors requested the staff at RGASPI to make a selection of images from their collection, emphasizing material relating some way to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. This selection of black and white photo prints and one presentation album of drawings, inscriptions and photos, were photographed in the Moscow archive and delivered to ALBA in the form of negative sheets.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged numerically according to three-part numbers assigned by the International Brigade Archives, Moscow. The three-part numbers represent series, file, and individual image numbers.
Organized in one series, arranged by image number.
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Scope and Content Note
Among the subjects represented are group photographs and portraits of members of the International Brigades (Including British, Dimitrov, Dombrowski, Lincoln-Washington and MacKenzie Papineau Battalions), International Brigades training, life in camp, leisure activities, International Brigades Band, Spanish Republican military leaders, Communist Party leaders (including Earl Browder and Harry Pollitt), distinguished visitors such as Langston Hughes and George Orwell (Eric Blair), and a photo album compiled by Major Stefanovich prior to the Brunete offensive. Although these photographs were not the work of the unit specifically designated to record activity of the English-speaking units, there are a substantial number of images of U.S. and Canadian volunteers included. The collection also includes street scenes, wall newspapers and posters, scenes of civilians socializing with or observing IB volunteers, and a few images of Nationalist casualties. One group of images reproduces each page of a souvenir album presented to the U.S. Communist volunteers by the Communist Party of Spain.
Each file folder has a descriptive title provided by the International Brigades Archive. Basic caption information comes from an English translation of the Guide to the International Brigade Archives (Moscow) commissioned by ALBA for their own use. Some proper names have been corrected or expanded, and some abbreviations have been expanded. Many captions have been edited and expanded, and unidentified images have been provided with descriptive captions by Tamiment Library staff. Additions to the original caption list are enclosed in brackets.
Four-hundred-and-twenty-five (425) photographs are attributed to Yugoslavian volunteer, Major Vladimir Stefanovich. Folder 5 (Moscow no. 5/179) contains 195 of his photographs and folder 22 (Moscow no. 5/196) contains 230 of his photographs. The remaining 623 images are not credited to a photographer.
The negatives are printed on 5 x 7 inch sheets with 3 or 4 images per sheet.
Note to the Researcher: Only a selection of photographs from the IB collection at Moscow was copied for the ALBA archive. A comprehensive caption list of photographs in the International Brigades Archive, Moscow is available in the Tamiment Library. It comprises Series 5 of an English translation of the Russian-language guide to the International Brigades Archive, Moscow. Consult staff for access. Note, too, that all negatives from ALBA Photo 177 that were identified as being by Lincoln Brigade photographer Harry Randall and his team are not listed in this finding-aid, but are included in the finding-aid to the Randall photo collection (ALBA Photo #11). Thus, the present finding-aid does not list all negatives that are physically located in ALBA Photo 177.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) were transferred to New York University in November 2000 by the ALBA Board of Governors. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. For more information, contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The copy negatives making up the collection, International Brigades Archive, Moscow: Selected Images, were purchased by the Board of Governors of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives from the International Brigade Archives at the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) in 1995. This collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections, formerly housed at Brandeis University.
Funding for the digitization of negatives in this collection was provided by Rickard and Carol-Jeanette Jorgensen, in honor of Harry W. Randall, Jr., head of the 15th International Brigade Photo Unit, and Doreen Randall.
