Vladivostok on view postcards from the collection of B. V. Avgustovsky

Abstract

The article examines archival visual representations of Vladivostok by analyzing a special type of photographic material – view postcards. As a case study, the collection of view postcards by Boris Vladimirovich Avgustovsky (1902–1991) is considered. Avgustovsky is a famous Far Eastern local historian, who collected a unique collection of documentary and photographic materials, postcards, books, manuscripts, and articles on the history of Vladivostok and the Primorsky Krai. The view postcard is studied as a significant visual anthropological document that helps to construct a well-defined image of the city: to distinguish its space from all others according to some characteristics, to focus on specific fragments as well as to form associations with this space. Based on the analysis of view postcards from the collection of B. V. Avgustovsky, the key motives and images are distinguished. These motives formed the image of Vladivostok in the late 19th – early 20th century. It is concluded that in historical meaning view postcards appeared to be an effective way of constructing images of cities in the eastern outskirts of the Russian Empire.

Keywords

• the image of the city
• visual representations
• cultural construction
• view postcard
• vladivostok
• boris avgustovsky