Lot 94
Photograph Albums - Michael Klaver - Russia-China, 1920s-30s / Chinese Eastern Railway in Harbin
Three photograph albums from the archive of Michael Klaver; from the time he lived in China. Harbin and Hailar, ca. 1923-1931.
Michael Klaver (1895-1988), social activist, member in the Russian Social-Revolutionary Party, journalist and accountant, born in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in the province of Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East. From 1922 lived in Harbin, where he worked as an accountant, first for the Chinese Eastern Railway (continuation of the Trans-Siberian Railway, connecting Chita and Vladivostok) and later for other companies. As of 1933 lived in Tiangin where he worked in a bank, lectured on political and social subjects and was a member of the Jewish cultural club "Kunst". Immigrated to Israel in 1950 and was vice chairman of the Association of Former Residents of China in Israel.
· Album with photographs portraying Chinese and Russian workers loading and unloading cargo, probably in the Chinese Eastern Railway station in Harbin. A handwritten dedication appears in the beginning of the album, in Russian, to Michael Klaver, from a Chinese company (dedication dated: Harbin, 1931). 45 photographs, approx. 8.5X5.5 cm, mounted on album leaves, 24.5X9 cm.
· Two personal photo-albums: most of the photographs are of Klaver, his friends and family, in Harbin and in Hailar in China. Some are titled by hand (in Russian) on the album leaves. About 240 photographs in various sizes (most of them approx. 8.5X5.5 cm). Size of albums: 23X16.5 cm; 14.5X21.5 cm.
Good-fair condition. Some photographs are loose and pasted with adhesive tape (Cellotape). Some are loose or detached. Stains. Damages to some photographs. Original albums, bound with a string, with notes attached to the front with adhesive tape (Cellotape).
