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Roma settlement in Usma forest, Kuldīga county (road from Usma to Renda). 1902. Photo Oscar Emil Schmidt
At the turn of the 20th c., not only Latvians but also researchers from other nations continued to take an interest in the everyday life of the inhabitants of Latvia. Among them were local enthusiasts as the Baltic-German teacher and school inspector Oscar Emil Schmidt, Russian ethnographer and geographer Yuri Novoselov, or the Finnish ethnographer and archaeologist Axel Olai Heikel. The interest of local researchers was often much broader than just the study of traditional culture, but their contribution includes valuable ethnographical photographs.
In the late 19th c., erudite and interested into the local history were the Baltic-Germans. Results of their work can be found in various collections of Latvian heritage institutions. Oscar Emil Schmidt (1847–1917) was a teacher and school inspector, photographer, and avid traveller. His collection, stored at the National History Museum of Latvia, contains over 3000 glass plate negatives and about 1000 photographs. Many of these images are of ethnographic significance.
Schmidt’s photo collection is thematically and geographically extensive, complemented by his abstracts, plans, and drawings of architectural and historical sites. His interests included rural and urban landscapes, historic buildings, and the daily lives of the people. His exemplary contribution is a well-organized, solo 30-year-long expedition, which remains unparalleled in Latvia.
Latvians in the focus of researchers from other nations
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Liv dwelling. Ventspils county Jaunciems. 1902. Photo Axel Olai Heikel. Finnish Heritage Agency collection
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Axel O. Heikel. Die Volkstrachten in den Ostseeprovinzen und in Setukesien. Helsingfors: Societe Finno-Ougrienne, 1909
Finnish ethnographer and archaeologist Axel Olai Heikel (1851–1924) went on tree expeditions along the Baltic coast, visiting Bārta, Rucava, Alsunga, Ventspils, Lielirbe, and Kolka in the early 20th c. He published his expedition materials in Die Volkstrachten in den Ostseeprovinzen und in Setukesien [National dress in the Baltic provinces and the Seto land] in 1909. The chapter on Latvian and Liv folk dress in Kurzeme region contains 11 photographs with valuable notes on when and where they were taken along with descriptions. Heikel also collected many ethnographic objects, mainly articles of Liv clothing, now housed in the National Museum of Finland.
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Young woman’s dress. Ventspils county Lielirbe. 1902. Photo: Axel Olai Heikel. Finnish Heritage Agency collection
Russian-born ethnographer and geographer Yuri Novoselov (1873–1955) moved to Riga in 1902 where he worked in secondary schools. He compiled his research on Latvians in Vidzeme and Kurzeme regions in the ethnographic review Latvians (Латыши, 1911). He gave insight into the Latvian way of life and traditions, publishing not only texts, but also photographs taken by him and other members of the Latvian Photographic Society, illustrating anthropological types, traditional construction tools, and other items. He was a member of the Society of Devotees of Natural Science, Anthropology, and Ethnography of Moscow University, the Latvian Photographic Society, and the Riga Russian Photo Club. After fleeing Latvia as a refugee during the First World War and Russian Civil War, he returned to Latvia in 1921.
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Юрій Новоселовъ. Латыши: очерки по этнографіи и современной культурѣ латышей. Рига: А.И. Кузнецовъ, 1911
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Women in Rucava market, Grobiņa county. Early 20th c. Photo Yuri Novoselov. In: Latvija II. Iedzīvotāji. Rīga: Salamandra, 1927
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