Photographic archive of Finno-Ugric peoples of Siberia by the Hungarian researcher Pápai Károly as a visual and anthropological source

Abstract

Introduction: for the last time the interest to the forgotten archive photographic materials in visual anthropology, which are represented the image of Siberia and the Far East at the end of the XIX – the beginning of the CC century, had been increased. Particular interests are the photographs of the Hungarian researcher Pápai Károly (1861–1893), which are the part of the photographic archive of Budapest Museum of Ethnography regarding culture of the Samoyed and Finno-Ugric peoples of the North of Siberia. Objective: to study the phenomenon of ethnographic photography as a complex visual and anthropological source. Research materials: portrait and anthropological photography by the Hungarian scholar K. Pápai. Results and novelty of the research: the results of the research meet the urgent task of introducing archival photographic materials into scientific circulation, deepening of theoretical study of the concept of «portrait and anthropological photography» as a special type of visual-anthropological source. The novelty of the work is exploration of the archive photographic materials of Pápai Károly as a valuable historical and ethnographic source that is analyzed in the context of the development of visual anthropology of Siberia by the Hungarian scholars at the end of the XIX century. © 2020 Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development. All rights reserved.