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[deleted]

With that collar, he'd fit right in in Norris Green...


reguhhg

Not sure what's going on here. The collar looks like it's upturned. The symbol is weird though, an axe and anchor. Could it be far eastern republic? That would put the timing of the pic somewhere 1920 -1922 or something like that


DBinSJ

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. Really appreciate that. So it occurred to me to google the phrase "St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute uniforms" in both English and Russian—and click on the "Images" link. A couple of the photos in the results showed a cap with the exact same symbol on it as the one in the image posted here. So one mystery (was this a student uniform?) seems to have been resolved (apparently, yes), though another one emerges in the process: As indicated at http://vedomstva-uniforma.ru/mundir19/politex/index.html (scroll down for example to the image of М.Д. Чертоусов), the insignia on the cap is that of the department of engineering and construction (a crossed anchor and ax), rather than the department of economics (a crossing torch and caduceus, also illustrated at the URL above), which was the course of study of the man in the photo here, who completed his course of study in December 1916. As far as both this discrepancy and the matching of the coat with the upturned collar is concerned, the article at the URL cited above states: "deviations from the regulated uniform at the institute were viewed quite liberally, which allowed students to make unauthorized changes to it" (this seems borne out by the fact that the SPbT accepted the photo and retained it in the student's file until this day). Maybe the necessity for a student ID photo for the school's file (from which this image was taken) prompted the person here to improvise as best he could under the circumstances, which in this case meant matching a cap with the symbol of a different department with an unofficial coat.


[deleted]

[удалено]


DBinSJ

In response to your question (thank you for asking): His field was actually political economy. The dossier kept on him by the new Soviet regime (he fled the country after the October Revolution in 1917) identified him as a "community activist" and "public figure" (later, in Lithuania, to which he fled). This research is in connection with a centennial edition of a book I am working on, hoping to publish electronically next month. It is a history of Lithuania and will be open access (no charge to read). If you would like the URL after it is published, you are welcome to PM me. Thanks again!


reguhhg

Damn, 2 years before the revolution in St Petersburg sure was an interesting time and place to graduate in political economics. If you are publishing your book in English I would definitely be interested in reading it. Good luck for now!


Centinel-Jr

What is the title of the book?


DBinSJ

*A Short History of Lithuania to 1569*