Categories
Uncategorized

Men And Cars, 1930s.

Click for full image


Two dapper men, in suits and fedoras, near a number of parked cars. Appears 1930s; from this set.

Categories
Uncategorized

Rototilling The Garden, 1930s.

Click for full image


Man running a small rototiller, readying his garden for planting. 1930s; from this set.

Categories
Uncategorized

Horse In Barnyard, 1930s.

Click for full image


Horse near barn door, 1930s. From this set.

Categories
Uncategorized

Couple By Firepit, 1940s.

Couple standing by a brick firepit. Appears 1940s.

Categories
Uncategorized

Submarine Point-Of-View, 1910s.

Click for full image


My impression of a submarine’s visual acuity was similar to a telescope: Square-jawed 1950s movie stars peering into a binocular-like apparatus suspended from the ceiling, ordering torpedoes to be fired. During and prior to WWI, submarines were just coming into their own, and would soon be the secret weapon to turn a war’s direction. The periscope, according to the image above, operated quite differently than my memories of mid-20th-century naval war movies. A bowl-shaped mirror was lifted, at the top of a tube, above the surface of the ocean. It reflected light down the viewing tube, projecting it, a’la camera obscura, on to a white tabletop for review by the captain and his officers. The bowl-shape projects the distended, distorted view seen in the image above. While this afforded an instant, at-a-glance view of the submarine’s surroundings, it did not provide the rangefinding, weapon-aiming, or navigation facilities that a modern sub enjoys. From The Book of Knowledge, published in the 1910s.

Categories
Uncategorized

Flooded Doghouse, 1950.

Click for full image


The 2009 Flood has crested in Grand Forks and the river is falling, but in 1950 even the dogs were victims. In this posed photo, an unhappy cocker spaniel surveys the swollen Red River of the North from the peak of his home, just outside a flooded Grand Forks house (the address, 317 Euclid Ave, no longer exists). From this group of photos.

Categories
Uncategorized

Dorothy Raddatz, 1890s.

Click for full image


The back of the photo, in a childish pencil script, is the name “Dorothy Raddatz”. Appears to be late 19th century. From a bunch of random photos acquired recently.

Categories
Uncategorized

Cattle And The Farmer, 1930s.

click to view full image


A man tending to his cattle, 1930s.

Categories
Uncategorized

Forests, Deserts, and Prairies, 1910s.

Click for full image


From The Children’s Encyclopedia, published in the 1910s, and designed by “G.F. Morrell”. This illustrated map, ignoring political boundaries and man-made roads or railways, is pieced together from several smaller maps, depicting the various environments of the world. The caption of the maps engages in some scare-mongering, comparing the expanding deserts as proof our planet is moving towards being as arid as the moon, but it also describes deforestation as “a disastrous thing for a country,” recognizing that removal of trees and grasses can result in loss of topsoil and a collapse of the food-creating industries.

Categories
Uncategorized

Easter Egg Hunt, 1961.

Click for full image


Severely underexposed slide from this set, made legible through Photoshop: a small child, bundled tightly against the elements, picking up an Easter egg near a propane tank, 1961.