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Vintage photos of:
Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
July 16, 1913. Surf Avenue on Coney Island, with Feltman's Clam Bake on the left. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007
We'll start the day with a selection of working kids snapped by Lewis Hine, whose photographs, 100 years after they were taken, seem to exist in eerily infinite supply.
February 1, 1917. "Vincenzo Messina, 15 years old, and brother Angelo, 11 years old, baking bread for their father at 174 Salem Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Vincenzo is working nights now. Angelo helps a great deal, tends store and helps bake, too." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
November 1909. Two of the boys on night shift in the More-Jones Glass Co., Bridgeton, New Jersey. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
March 1909. Hartford, Conn. Solomon —— . Began selling at 7 years of age. Been selling six years (four at night). View full size. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.
August 1908. "Greek bootblack in Indianapolis." An interesting example of a time exposure where the subject either enters the frame after the shutter opens or leaves it before it closes. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
WW2 KODACHROMES
Below, a selection of 1940s color transparencies, three of them the large-format 4x5's that we love so much and wish there were more of. I wonder why Ken Burns didn't make more use (or any use) of these in his excellent documentary "The War," given that it is being presented in HD. The aviation shots are especially impressive. - Dave
October 1942. "Clerk in North American Aviation stockroom, checking to see if the proper numbers of parts were received and placed in the proper bin. Inglewood, California. This plant produces the battle-tested B-25 (Billy Mitchell) bomber, used in General Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, and the P-51 (Mustang) fighter plane which was first brought into prominence by the British raid on Dieppe." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.
October 1942. Assembling switchboxes on the firewalls of B-25 bombers at North American Aviation's Inglewood, California, factory. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information.
1942. Grand Grocery in Lincoln, Nebraska. View full size. 35mm Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon. Alternate version shows a different view.
October 1942. Lathe operator machining parts for transport planes at the Consolidated Aircraft plant in Fort Worth, Texas. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem, Office of War Information.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2007
Today's theme is fire in and under New York. Or at least a lot of billowing smoke. Yesterday our readers did a great job figuring out the addresses of the various storefronts I posted. To them, a tip of the Shorpy miner's cap! - Dave
June 29, 1916, fire at the Fox Playhouse between East 13th and 14th Streets. Tenants in the building owned by restaurateur August Luchow included the vaudeville house (showing "photo plays"), Loewinger Brothers printers, a pool hall and Greater New York Film Rental. We also see women at two of the windows. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
On January 6, 1915, an electrical short in a manhole started a fire that filled the subway line under Broadway at West 55th Street with smoke, resulting in chaos for a quarter-million commuters. The New York Times reported that one person, Ella Grady, was killed. We note that photographer George Grantham Bain, like many of us writing checks just after January 1, was a year off in dating this photo. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
Automobile Row: Broadway at West 55th Street. Another view of the January 6, 1915, subway fire in New York. More details here. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.