Country life in glass plate negatives

At the beginning of the 20th century, following the agrarian reform Latvians were the main landowners and agriculture became the basis of the entire economy of independent Latvia; the people and society at that time immortalised important life events in glass plate negatives. The collection includes glass plate negatives from the collections of various photographers and cultural heritage institutions.

Latvia in the 16th-18th century maps

The collection consists of ancient maps in the collection of the National Library of Latvia with the territory of Latvia or its historical regions. The complex course of historical development and the geographical position at the intersection of the great European powers explain the fact that the contours of the territory of modern Latvia can be found on the ancient maps of Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Prussia and Lithuania, as well as Russia. The collection includes atlases and single-sheet maps of importance to the history of cartography. Many of the digitized materials are clippings from once widely distributed editions: late 16th and early 17th century reworked maps of K. Ptolemaios, S. Münster's Cosmographia, atlases by A. Ortelius and G. Mercator, et al. An important part of the collection consists of the excellent collection of ancient maps of Dean Ringolds Mužiks (1914-2000), which appeared in the stock of the National Library of Latvia in 2001 and 2002 thanks to Inese Auziņa-Smita, an exile library scholar and cultural worker living in Great Britain.

LETA Photo Collection (1989-1996)

In 1973, the Latvian telegraph agency "LETA" was renamed LATINFORM. It operated under the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR and was a branch of the TASS news agency of the Soviet Union. In 1990, its historical name LETA was restored. In 1931, the LETA Press Photo Department was established with the aim to document cultural, social, political, etc. events, and prepare visual materials for the needs of the news agency. The news agency’s photo materials of 1989-1996 are included in the collection of LETA photographs of the Latvian National Archives of Latvia, approximately 4,500 items in total. The collection is available on the network of the National Library of Latvia.

Local History of Gulbene

The collection Local History of Gulbene reflects the history, people, cultural history monuments and events of the Gulbene Region from the end of the 19th century to the 1990s. Photographs, postcards, documents tell the story of social and cultural life, the economy and education of that time.

Latvians Abroad Museum and Research Centre Collection

Latvian communities outside Latvia have existed for almost 200 years, still preserving the Latvian way of life and culture. Since the beginning of the photo era, these Latvians have captured their journeys outside of Latvia in photographs, which over time have become unique historical evidence not only of the family, but also of the entire Latvian community.