Photograph of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia the Younger
Photography
Inventory number
2025.5.5.4.PH.OT.1940.USAuthor:
Associated Press ( American, founded 1846)Description
Photograph of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia the Younger registering under the Alien Registration Act of 1940. She stands next to Frank MURRAY, a fingerprint expert of the postoffice department. She is dressed in a plaid jacket over a tie top blouse featuring a turtle print. Atop her head she wears a fascinator hat with a silk band and tule veil. Frank MURRAY wears a pinstripe suit.Maria Pavlovna the Younger (1890-1958) was a Russian grand duchess, the daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, youngest son of Tsar Alexander II, and Princess Alexandra of Greece. A prominent figure in the Romanov exile community after the Russian Revolution, she lived in Europe and the U.S., where she worked as a fashion designer and wrote a memoir, Education of a Princess (1930).The Alien Registration Act of 1940, or Smith Act, required non-citizen residents in the U.S. to register with the government and made it illegal to advocate for the violent overthrow of the government, often targeting suspected communists and leftists. Frank Murray was a fingerprint expert for the U.S. Post Office Department in the 1940s, specializing in detecting mail fraud and forgery through advanced fingerprint analysis. His expertise helped solve numerous postal crimes, making him a key figure in forensic investigations during that era.
Material
PhotographOrigin
circa 1940 San Francisco, United StatesDimensions
Length : 15 cmHeight : 24 cm