Graduation of a nine-year old school with a peduncle, 1880. From a collection of 153 photographs and documents held in the Berdsk Historical Art Museum, drawn from the personal archives of people who lived in the town of Berdsk in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The collection offers glimpses into everyday life, the atmosphere, and the activities in Berdsk, a major center of grain processing at that time. The photographs show groups of students and teachers, local mills, people at work in agriculture and industry, soldiers, and children and youth. Most appear to date from the early Soviet era. The documents include tickets, ration cards, membership cards, and other items relating to farming, trade, crafts, mining, and so forth. Berdsk is located in Novosibirsk Oblast in central Russia, along the Novosibirsk Reservoir just south of Novosibirsk city. Founded at the beginning of the 18th century as a fortress, it became a city in 1944.