The University Library owns an interesting collection of lithograph posters from the time of the Russian October Revolution 1917 and the following five years.
The collection is the result of the Swedish diplomat, Torsten Lundell's (1889-1970) work for the Swedish Legation in Petrograd (Leningrad) and for the Red Cross in Sibiria during the years of the revolution. Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky, Commissar for Enlightenment, gave Lundell permission to collect two examples of every print that was published during the October Revolution. Lundell realised early on the importance of this material for research and donated the collection to Uppsala University Library in 1921.
The collection consists of 116 posters, a small but typical selection of the more than 3,000 known posters from that time. Lundell's collection contains, apart from the posters, also books, newspapers, journals and grammophone records. Read more about the publications of the Russian Revolution at Uppsala University Library.
The Poster Collection is documented in an exhibition catalogue:
Linda Lindenau, Berit Sahlström: Ryska affischer 1917-1922 - Affischer ur Lundellska samlingen. Uppsala: Uppsala UB, 1984. (Uppsala universitetsbiblioteks utställningskataloger; 15). In Swedish only.
