The Community of Saint Eugenia was a charitable society in the Russian Empire, established by the Committee for the Care of Red Cross Sisters of Mercy and active from 1893 to 1918.
The Red Cross Community of Saint Eugenia was founded in 1893 by the Committee for the Care of Red Cross Sisters of Mercy (1882) from among young sisters who provided medical assistance. It was named in honor of Saint Eugenia, the heavenly patroness of Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Oldenburg (1845–1925), the community’s patron. The committee was chaired by Evdokia Fyodorovna Dzhunkovskaya (1856–1935), a lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court.
At first, the “Community” existed on private donations, and then, in 1896, in search of funds, it turned to publishing activities, in particular the production of art postcards.
After the 1917 revolution, the publishing house of the Community of Saint Eugenia was registered as the “Commission for Art Publications of the Community of St. Eugenia.” In 1920, by a special decree, all Red Cross Sisters of Mercy organizations were dissolved. The Community’s publishing house was transferred to the State Academy of Material Culture under the name Committee for the Promotion of Art Publications (KPHI). In 1928, KPHI’s postcard production was banned for ideological reasons. Some old printing plates of the Community were transferred to the “Graphic Arts” trust, and later to “Lenpoligraf.” The print quality of these enterprises was beyond criticism, the products were not in demand, and postcard publishing soon faded out.