Ogonek (St. Petersburg) Digital Archive
Pre-revolutionary political, literary and cultural illustrated magazine
Established in 1899 and in continuous print until 1918, Ogonek first came on the scene as a weekly illustrated supplement to the influential St. Petersburg-based newspaper Birzhevye Vedomosti. Having posted impressive growth in readership, in 1902 Ogonek would chart an independent course, becoming a separate entity and attracting the period’s most notable journalists, photographers, literati and critics. With original reporting and photography, as well as commentary on popular culture, short stories and serialized novels, Ogonek (St. Petersburg) reflected the era, providing cues on the development and status of Russian society in the early 20th century, until its unceremonious closure by the Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1918 for propagating anti-Soviet views.
Although the magazine has the same name as the popular Soviet era weekly magazine Ogonek, their differences could not be more pronounced. Born in two different cities, (St. Petersburg vs Moscow), and in two different political and social realities, the only similarity between the two publications was their common name.
