The Schuster Family
According to the Alphabet "About Jews belonging to the Tobolsk City Society from old-timers, exiles and lower military ranks…", compiled in 1874, retired private Shevel Malasovich Shuster had three sons: Mons (1864), Yosel (1867) and Simon (1870). They all became photographers.
Mons Schuster. February 28, 1891, he received the right to open and maintain a photographic institution in Tobolsk. On May 31 of the same year, he was allowed to produce photographic works "in the Tobolsk district, Surgut and the district thereof." In October 1891 he was already in Tomsk. In 1894, the Calendar of the Tobolsk province reports that the "Moveable Photo" of M. Shuster is located in the city of Mariinsk, Tomsk province. One could assume that Mons settled there (based on the directory "All Siberia" for 1908, where the same information is indicated), if not for the lack of local history information about this in Mariinsk itself.
A. Shuster. On July 15, 1892, the wife of a private of the Tobolsk reserve battalion, Asna Peisakhovna Levina-Shuster (born in 1873) received permission to open a photo in Tobolsk. Soon, at the end of her service life, her husband, Yosel Shuster, started working in the "institution". We believe that the common cliche "A. Shuster" is not the name of the photographer, but the name of the family firm, where Asna Shuster was the formal founder, and Yosel carried out the actual photographic activity.
Joseph (Yosel) Savelyevich (Shevelevich) Shuster
(1867 Tobolsk — 1927 Tyumen).
1890 — Receives the Highest commendation for participating in the World Exhibition in Paris. 1892 — takes pictures in the workshops of the Tobolsk prison and its products for the All-Russian Handicraft and Industrial Exhibition in St. Petersburg. 1895 — was awarded a commendable review and a medal at the Kurgan Agricultural Exhibition. 1899 — awarded the silver medal "For Diligence" on the Stanislavsky ribbon. Creates an album with views of Tobolsk and the surrounding area and sends it as a gift to the tsar. He is in correspondence, and possibly meets with D.I. Mendeleev. 1900 — participates in the formation of the collection for the Paris World’s Fair. 1902 — "Photographer Shuster donated an interesting collection of photographs taken by him during his trip to Berezov to the Tobolsk Provincial Museum." 1903 — awarded the silver medal "For Diligence" on the Anninsky ribbon. 1907 — the firm "A." begins work in Tyumen. Shuster" (26 Tsarskaya Street). Yosel is moving to Tyumen. 1910 — becomes the first newsreel of Tyumen, having filmed races at the hippodrome, etc. Films are shown in the electric theaters "Modern" and "The Whole World" belonging to him. onethousandninehundredeleven — opens the Giant cinema in Tyumen. 1912 — takes photos and film of A.A. Vasiliev’s flights on an airplane. 1913 — receives permission to produce photographic works in the cities of Yalutorovsk, Ishim and Tara. He not only demonstrated films, but also established "production of cinematographic tapes in Siberia". 1914 — at the firm "A. Shuster" has a branch in Irbit. On May 3, he meets with Grigory Rasputin and shoots him on a cinematic tape. 1925 — transfers to the Tyumen Museum "a very valuable collection of photographs illustrating more or less notable events in the life of the city of Tyumen, as well as several very interesting pictures … of Tobolsk.". 1927 — on behalf of the Regional Executive Committee creates an album dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution.
Semyon (Simon) Savelyevich (Shevelevich) Shuster
(1870 Tobolsk — 1943 Tyumen).
The younger brother of Mons and Yosel Schuster. He moved to Tyumen from Tobolsk (no later than 1905). He was a representative of the company "A. Shuster" in Irbit (1914). During the Soviet years he worked as a photographer in Tyumen, a photojournalist for the newspaper "Labor Alarm" (1924), the publishing house "Red Banner" (30s) and in the photo studio "Artel Bytovik". He lived on Komsomolskaya Street, 26.