Restoring Memory: 100-Year-Old Photos Are Coming Online
Photographs preserved at the Far Eastern Newsreel Studio (Dalnevostochnaya studiya kinohroniki) will be digitized and published on platforms operated by the TASS News Agency (TASS). The collaboration will give the public access to rare images, some captured more than a century ago.
The Far Eastern Newsreel Studio began operating in the 1920s. Its collection includes historical photographs and around 5,000 film reels, most of which have already been transferred to Gosfilmofond. At a press conference dedicated to the studio’s revival, Sergei Shakhidzhanyan, head of TASS Photo Chronicle, said the studio’s photographs will be digitized and made publicly available on tassphoto.com.
An Ideal Partnership
The project is being implemented jointly by the Far Eastern Newsreel Studio and TASS. “We are glad to have the opportunity to work with TASS – this is an important step for us. First, we plan to digitize the photo archives together so viewers can see what the studio has captured over the years,” said Darya Garanina, director of the Far Eastern Newsreel Studio.
Today, the TASS media bank contains about 70 million content items, including news photography and video produced by its own correspondents as well as Russian and international partners. It also includes 1.2 million historical images dating back to the early 20th century, along with infographics and AI-generated content.
Not a Trend, but a Necessity
Modern archival work is shifting to a new format, where access to documents, including photos and video, increasingly happens online. To support this, archival materials are digitized and made available to specific audiences, and in some cases published openly without restrictions.
A digital archive is no longer a trend – it is a necessity. In many cases, it is also the only way to preserve rare materials. Digitizing the Far Eastern Newsreel Studio’s photographs contributes to safeguarding the cultural heritage of both the region and the country.
Across Russia, archives are undergoing a broader transformation: analog photographic materials are becoming digital assets that can be stored, indexed, published, and used in media, education, museum work, and research.
For the region, the project can strengthen cultural identity and spark greater interest in history. More than that, digitizing these images is an attempt to return an entire layer of the Far East’s historical memory to the public domain.
A New System of Record
This initiative could become a model for regional archives and film studios that hold unique but largely inaccessible collections. In this context, cooperation with TASS serves as part of a broader mechanism for restoring cultural and historical memory.
The digital transformation of culture is affecting all institutions. According to official plans, collections of major metropolitan museums are set to be digitized by 2026. Against this backdrop, the Far Eastern project fits into a nationwide trend. Since 2024, the State Catalog of the Museum Fund of Russia has operated as a federal information system, requiring museums to upload digital records of their collections. This means digital cataloging is being driven and supported at all levels of government, while TASS brings deep expertise as an established infrastructure player in this space.
In 2025, TASS reported that its historical photo archive includes more than 850,000 images. In digitization projects like this one, the agency positions itself as an infrastructure partner capable of turning archives into accessible media products.
