Latvia in historical images

We've assembled all the illustrations from our historical materials into a gallery which also links back to sources and broken out our pictorial materials below for easy browsing.

Browse everything at Entire library by era

Materials listed by category and year.

  = album/postcards    = includes facsimile    = culture    = Soviet propaganda 

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Historical illustrations gallery

• Livländische Schweiz
  
  Livländische Schweiz (The Livonian Switzerland), C. Schulz, ca. 1880—A scenic Latvian photo album (20 pictures) of the Gauja river valley surrounding Sigulda.
• Album "Riga—Рига"
  
  Album "Riga—Рига", ca. 1910—Three dozen large-format photos of Riga at the start of the 20th century.
• Devastated Latvia, 1921
  
  Devastated Latvia, photographed and published 1921 (LATVIAN, Latvijas Izpostīto Apgabalu Kongresa Padomes izdevums uzņemts u. izdots 1921 g.), Mārtiņš Lapiņš, Latvijas Izpostīto Apgabalu Kongresa Padome, 1921—Photo print album issued by the Latvia's Devastated Regions Congress Council in 1921 documenting the destruction left in the wake of WWI and Latvia's War of Independence.
• Jānis Čakste In Memoriam
  
  Jānis Čakste Memorial Album (LATVIAN, Pirmā Latvijas Valsts Prezidenta Jāņa Čakstes Piemiņai), Latvian Young People's Christian Society "Christian Endevor", 1927—Photo album dedicated to Latvia's first President upon his death in office.
• Summer Scenes
  
  Latvia II, Summer Scenes (LATVIAN, LATVIJA II, Vasaras Skati), A. Grapmanis, Jaunā Vārda Apgāds, 1946—Album of nine plates of photographs with captions in Latvian and English
• Fischbach Song Day
  
  
  Fischbach Song Day, June 27, 1948 (LATVIAN, Pirmo Latvieši vispārejo Dziesmu svētku 75 gadu atceres Dziesmu diena, Fišbachā pie Nirnbergas, 1948. gada 27. jūnijā), Kārlis Puriņš, Viktors Puriņš, 1948—Latvians in the Displaced Persons camps of Fischbach and Märzfeld in Nuremberg and environs gather to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the very first Latvian Song Festival (in 1873, in Rīga, with over 1,000 singers participating). Photo album of 24 pictures, with foreword by composer and Fischbach DP camp elder Jēkabs Poruks.

• Anna Dārziņa Post Cards
  
  
  Latvian folk costumes, Anna Dāŗziņa, Esslingen DP Camp, Jānis Liepiņš, ca. 1949—Illustrations of Latvian folk costumes. Set of 18 postcards.
• Folk Costume Fold-Outs
  
  
  
  Soviet era folk costume foldouts (LATVIAN, Tautas tērpi), Latvian State Publishing House, ca. 1958—Collection of women's and men's folk costume Soviet era souvenir fold-outs, depicting costumes from various regions of Latvia and including descriptions in French, English, Russian, and Latvian.
• Along Latvia's Roads
  
  
  Along Latvia's Roads (LATVIAN, Pa Latvijas Ceļiem), J. Opmanis, Liesma, ca. 1960—Soviet era postcards reminiscent of America's contemporaneous "See the USA in your Chevrolet" ad campaign which ran from 1952 to 1963.
• Soviet Rīga
  
  
  Rīga / Рига / Riga / Riika / ريغا Granovsky Album, Naum Granovsky, Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, ca. 1960—Soviet fold-out of color and colorized post-card sized images of Rīga. Captioned in eight languages, extolling the benefits, virtues, and accomplishments of Soviet rule.