The Russian Photography Collection comprises approximately 7,000 gelatin-silver photographs by the leading photographers and photojournalists working in Soviet Russia between the two World Wars.

Major categories of the collection include: Constructivism/Avant-garde Socialist Realism Propaganda Photo-Reportage War Photography
General topics of the collection include: Industrialization Collectivization of Agriculture Portraiture Pictorialism Architecture Politics Reconstruction of the city Parades and Demonstrations Preparation for War Post-War life

The photographers represented in this collection include virtually all of the well-known photographers of the early to mid twentieth century in the USSR.

The collection was acquired and curated over a 4 year period beginning in 1990. There are about 25 photographers' archives of 80 prints or more in the collection, with very significant holdings (over 200 prints each) of the following: