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Russia and its Empire in Eurasia: Cartographic Resources in the Library of Congress

Telecommunications

Russia. Glavnoe upravlenīe pocht i telegrafov.Pochtovo - telegrafnaia karta Aziatskoi Rossii (skhematicheskaia). 1914. From Atlas Aziatskoi Rossii. Original held by the National Library of Russia. Digital image available through the Library of Congress website.

There are a handful of maps depicting telecommunications, i.e. telegraph lines, telegraph stations, and underwater cables, in Russia. With few exceptions, coverage is limited to pre-1917 Imperial Russia. Researchers should note that telegraph lines occasionally also appear on maps depicting railroads, postal routes, and transportation networks. At this time only two cataloged maps can be identified on the Library of Congress online catalog via the search term "Telegraph lines Russia." Uncataloged materials are noted below.

Single Maps

There are five uncataloged maps depicting telecommunications and telegraph lines in Russia and the former Soviet Union that range in date from the late nineteenth century up to 1917. One exceptional item is described below.

 

Pochtovo-Telegrafnaia Karta Rossiskoi Imperii, Izdannia Glavnym' Upravleniem' Pocht' i Telegrafov'. 1904 g. (St. Peterburg: Ispolnena kartograficheskim' zavedeniem' P. Petsh, 1904). Chromolithograph. Scale 35 versts to an English inch. Filed under USSR -- Telecommunication (telegraph) -- 1904 -- no scale -- Petsch

Early twentieth century map of Imperial Russia depicting postal and telegraph communication system. Map covers primarily European Russia, but large inset depicts Asiatic Russia. Map shows existing telegraph lines and those under construction; underwater cables; postal roads, highways, and country lanes; mail delivery routes and rural postal routes; post offices, postal-telegraph offices, post office and postal-telegraph branches, telegraph offices, and branch telegraph offices; railroad stations with and without mail service; existing railway lines and those under construction; steamship routes; volost governments with regular and simple mail service; state, gubernia and oblast, and uyezd boundaries; distances between stations in versts; towns, cities, and villages; and place names.

There are only two uncataloged maps depicting telecommunications and telegraph lines in European Russia. Both are from the early twentieth century.

The division has two uncataloged maps depicting telegraph lines and telecommunications in Estonia for the years 1921 and 1932, and two uncataloged maps of Lithuania for the years 1930 and 1935.

There are three uncataloged maps depicting telegraph lines and telecommunications in the Caucasus for the years 1865 to 1941. Two are described below.

 

Karta Sukhoputnykh, Vodnykh, i Telegraficheskikh Sooboschchenii Evropeiskoii Rossii i Kavkaskago Kraia sostavlenna i gravirovana pri Voenno-Topograficheskom Depo, 1862. Nepravlena v' 1865 gody. ([Tbilisi]: Military Topographical Dept., 1865). Engraving, colored. Scale 1 inch=8 versts. Filed under USSR -- Caucasus -- Transportation and Telegraphic Communications -- 1865 -- 1 inch=8 versts -- Mil. Topo. Dept.

Map of European Russia and the Caucasus showing transportation and telegraphic communications throughout the regions. Depicts roads and trails; railroads; existing and planned telegraph lines; telegraph stations; towns and villages; rivers and streams; canals; courses for vessels; and national and gubernia boundaries. Contains an inset showing telecommunication lines in the St. Petersburg region. Also includes a table of distances by road and rail between major towns and cities.


Diagram. Telegraph Communications in Transcaucasia 1916/17. (S.l.: S.n., 1917). Photostat. Scale 1:80,000. Filed under USSR -- Caucasus -- Telecommunications (telegraph systems) -- 1917 -- 1:80,000 -- no author

Photostat of original, source not cited, of English-language (possibly British) map showing telegraph lines in Transcaucasia during World War I. Identifies "Indo-European" lines; wire numbers; four kinds of telegraph systems, i.e, Morse, Hughes, Whitston, and Baudot; telephones; telegraph cables; railways; and meteorological stations. Includes insets of ten urban telegraph centers and their connecting telegraph lines.

The division holds three uncataloged maps depicting telecommunications in Siberia from the years 1915 and 1941.