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Running on Empty: 1936
... it is pretty dreary, but very thought-provoking. Philadelphia, maybe I wonder what could be more desirable than living in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/29/2017 - 10:07am -

April 1936. "Grocery store in Widtsoe, Utah. FSA land use project purchase area and clients who will be removed to more desirable section." Medium format negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. On LocationThey could have shot "Tremors" here. Moving DayThe beginning of the end of Widtsoe, Utah, November 22, 1935. What we DO knowWe know they had Prince Albert in a can and that they accepted (or gave away) some type of "coupons" although I cannot read that sign on the support beam on the left side of the porch. We know they had bread and butter lunches and Texaco gas. Wouldn't you like to be able to go inside and see what kinds of 1936 mercantiles they had available? The depression was hitting hard that year. This scene looks very cold and desolate, even though it was April. This is about the only Shorpy convenience store picture I can recall that didn't have a "Coca Cola" sign, not that it would be appealing or affordable on this dark and stark day. I wonder if the owner lived upstairs on the premises as so many did then. Not what I would call a pretty picture, in fact it is pretty dreary, but very thought-provoking. Philadelphia, maybeI wonder what could be more desirable than living in Widtsoe? Ghost farms for a ghost townThe outlines of the old farms next to the town can still be made out on Google Earth 80 years later. Some new circular irrigated farms have cropped up a few miles north. Lots of money - todayUnbeknownst to the owners at the time, todays value - only 80 years after the photo was taken - of the signage and gas pump alone would be worth more than that small mercantile could make in 20 years probably. Truck ID1929 Ford model AA. This is a Feb.-mid year type. Ford dropped rear fenders on stake bodies mid-year 1929. These disc wheels first appeared Feb.1929. (The Gallery, Dorothea Lange, Gas Stations, Stores & Markets)
Gimbel Bros: 1907
Philadelphia circa 1907. "Gimbel Brothers store, Market and Ninth streets." ... to add the occasional step or two. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Stores & Markets, Streetcars) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/31/2023 - 8:58pm -

Philadelphia circa 1907. "Gimbel Brothers store, Market and Ninth streets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. You will find it atI'm not sure when the memorably ugly sign was installed above this corner entrance; I remember it from the 1960s. These buildings were demolished in 1979, two years after store operations moved into the Gallery Mall across Market Street, where they lasted ten more years until Gimbel's closed down. There were signsI admire the work and the grit of sign painters back then. Looking at the signs on the side of that tall building and thinking of what it took to paint them tells me it wasn't a job for sissies. Leading the ParadeThis leviathan eventually grew to almost 2 million square feet, but of course it's more importantly known as the home of America's first Thanksgving Day Parade; so Macy*s may not tell Gimbel's, but it wasn't afraid to copy. (Eaton's in Toronto had developed the concept a few years previously.) It's been memorialized on video. Multiple buildings, but one storeI remember shopping in Gimbels, long ago. The frequent small steps from one room to another puzzled me at first, but later I realized the Gimbel's had expanded from its original building, eventually taking over all of the buildings down the length of the block. The floor levels in the various building didn't align with each other so when they cut through the walls to connect the buildings that had to add the occasional step or two. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Stores & Markets, Streetcars)
Point and Shoot: 1925
... girls' team at about this time. A selection follows. Philadelphia Girls Becoming Marksmen "The girl students of the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia have organized a rife team and, under the instruction of Lieut. J. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 6:44pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Girls' rifle team of Drexel Institute." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. By 1926The administration had decided that showing the twin-bill of "Annie, Get Your Gun" and "The Story of Lizzie Borden" was not a great idea. Ready on the Rightto wipe out the rest of the team! Looks like the fuse is VERY short! Take cover, Men!"The Great Man Hunt" of 1925 is about to begin! The Charlie Manson stare!Third from the left. Look out for her; she's on a mission. Not a particularly friendly looking bunch of gals. If you run into them on the street, smile, nod your head and KEEP WALKING! Quoting Dusty Bottoms"Looks like someone's been down here with the ugly stick." In today's PC worldYou don't often meet a woman who's shot her own wardrobe! Firearm Safety...The second girl from the left has the bolt on her rifle closed. Not safe unless you're in a position to fire the thing. Not Necessarily Unsafe......but not as safe as it could be. I have a bolt action rifle with very similar bolts, and if the safety lever is in the "safe" position you not only can't fire the gun but can't work the bolt either to load a round. Still, the preferred method is to have the bolt open (as most of them are) when the weapons are displayed in this manner. One might argue that they are not all pointed in a safe direction either (which you do always, even if the bolt is open and there are no rounds in the magazine). A couple of the ladies appear to have their rifles pointed right at their heads. She won't take "no" for an answer.Before computer dating, it was not uncommon for the less attractive ladies to go out and bag a husband. She needed to be a good shot as not to render him impotant or feable minded. Duct Tape?My gunnery sergeant would not have been happy with the material condition of No. 3's weapon. SlinglessInteresting, none of these rifles have slings. OriginalThe Original Broad Street Bullies. Bolting AwayYou noticed the bolt on her rifle? What about the bolts in her neck??? Alaska huntress?This photo can open up many snarky comments but I have to ask if any of them ended up in Alaska, maybe hunting from an aeroplane? And then there were six....I think, like the haircut, it's a plea for help! Homeland SecurityNow this is what we need for protection -- Attitude and Beauty! The posseThere were soon to be no stray cats or dogs left in that neighborhood. Fewer kids, too, for that matter. No faux furI'd venture a guess the fur is real, kinda makes me think girlfriend on the far right is the spoiled one. Funny --There are no men in this photograph! Types Seems to be four different rifles. Rifle TypesOnly type I recognize is the two M1903 Springfield rifles - second and third from the left. Man KillersThe two towards the right seem to be either Remington rolling blocks or some variant on the Sharps rifle. Including the '03 Springfields, we are talking a minimum of .30 caliber. None of these gals seem to be toting the traditional .22 caliber rifles used in competition. We're talking deer -- or, ulp! man-killing -- weaponry! No Slings, but No Slouches EitherThe condition and variety of their rifles notwithstanding, it appears that the squad had a very good record. Drexel fielded noteworthy rifle teams all throught the '30's and '40's at least. I could not find this particular photo, but there were many articles, often with photos, about the girls' team at about this time. A selection follows. Philadelphia Girls Becoming Marksmen "The girl students of the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia have organized a rife team and, under the instruction of Lieut. J. P. Lyons, U.S.A., military instructor at the Institution, are rapidly becoming expert marksmen." Rock Valley Bee, 21 January 1921. Good Rifle Teams at Drexel College "Drexel Institute, of Philadelphia, had two wonderful rifle shooting teams the past indoor season - one of boys, the other of girls. So good was the girls' team that Capt. J. P. Lyons, the instructor, said: ‘I would like to match the girls against any boys' rifle team in the country.' When the instructor talks that way the girls must be counted on as real shots. They were. They didn't lose a match. Next season, it is more than likely that the girls will be eligible to try for the university team. Drexel won 16 of its 18 matches, lost 1 and tied 1 - with Yale. In five of its matches Drexel made perfect scores." Washington Post, 18 June 1922. Fair Warning [photo caption] "Girls' rifle team of Drexel Institute defeated a picked sharpshooter squad of Philadelphia police in a match." Hammond, Indiana, Times, 25 February 1926. .22 x 6The rifles are all .22s, the Springfields are either M1922 or M2 .22 caliber training rifles. The single shots that one commenter thought was a rolling block are in fact Winchester .22 caliber "Winder" muskets built on the Winchester model 1885 action (the one on the far right is a "low wall" action. The fact that these are all .22s does little to take away from the level of marksmanship these women may have had and in fact all of the rifles are of extremely high quality. They Had the Vote......so what else could they be coming for??? The Importance of ImpotenceApart from the spelling, my other quibble with Vernon's comment is that a well-aimed rifle shot is not the only thing about these women that may render a man impotent or feeble-minded. TaggedThe girls #2 and #3 from the left each have a tag hanging from their coats - anyone know what that would be for? Styles of the 20'sMy mother, married in 1922, hated the hair and clothes styles so much that she destroyed the one photo that was taken to commemorate the day. I can assure you she remained stylish to her dying day but not according to whatever everyone else was wearing. I regret that so many of us tend to follow the current trend instead of thinking for ourselves. Permanent RecordHairstyles of the era really did nothing for them, did they. M*A*S*HIs this where Klinger went through basic training? Chicks with gunsHey, you know what they say. An armed society is a polite society. Betcha nobody whistled or cat-called at any girl around the Drexel campus. Drexel Womens Rifle Team The Ladies ream was still going strong when I was at Drexel in the late 1950's/early 60's. The tape on the rifle in the middle is to improve the grip of the forestock, not to hold the rifle together. They were still using the M2's when I was there. From an owner of two of these riflesFrom the left: 1 and 5. Obviously Springfields from the bolt throw (and barrel band sights), although my M22 MII does have a finger-grove stock. 2 and 3. Winchester Model 52 (early type with the folding ladder rear sight). Don't hassle me - I just took mine out of the gun safe to compare! The Springfields don't have the button clip release - it is a latch at the forward edge of the clip. Also, the chamber is WAY too short to be a .22 mod of an '06 action. 4 and 6. Both Winchester 1885 falling blocks - No. 6 a "Low Wall" Winder (all in .22 short). (Fortunately the lady's hose provide a good enough background to see the dropped rear of the action.) I have a 1885 "High Wall" in .22LR that is a musket stock, but I'd bet money this is a true Winder. On the far right...... Bob Dylan? Re: On the Far Right...I'm thinking Keith Richards. Shot the coat myselfThe one on the far right must be their instructor or adviser. Not only is she a decade older than the other people in this picture, she looks mean enough to have shot and skinned the animals for her coat all by herself. I suspect the tags on the coats might be an access pass to the shooting range (same idea as a ski lift ticket). You wouldn't want just anybody wandering into a place where there was live ammunition. You would need a way to tell at a glance, and from a distance, who belonged and who did not. They probably all have them, just those two are pinned where you can see them in the photo. The others may not have pinned theirs on yet for the day, or already taken them off for next time. A rule of thumb. Or head.As a high school teacher in Colorado in the early 1950s, I was the faculty leader of the rifle club. A standard rule of safety was don't point your gun at your head! Drexel must have had a new team of shooters each year. TapedActually, the tape would have been used to improve grip. Not to hold the rifle together. Note that the barrel band is intact. Let's hear it for the girlsI'm surprised there's so much negativity about these young ladies. When I saw the one on the far right, my first thought was, "Leopard coat? There's a woman who's not afraid of putting some drama in her style." I'll bet she listened to jazz and could make her own bathtub gin. Those old rifles...Only one of the "what rifles are they?" comments is accurate. To start with, all rifle competition has always been done using .22 caliber weapons. A very few national matches are held using higher caliber but .22 is the norm, believe me. The short stock rifles are obviously the special .22 version of the '03 Springfield, and the rolling/drop block "Martinis" are Winder muskets, based on the 1885 action. A friend of mine once owned a custom 1885 action that was chambered, believe it or not, for the old .218 Bee cartridge. The identification of the very early Winchester 52 is also interesting as the 52 is arguably defined as the best, at least American, target rifle ever made. The classic 52 story has a young guy asking an oldtimer what's so special about the 52. The old guy thinks for a few seconds then replies, "Son, there's .22s and there's 52s!" IDing the rifles [And speaking of sheer idiocy ... - Dave] (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Sports)
Birthplace of Old Glory: 1900
Circa 1900. "Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia." Our second look at Jack the horse . 8x10 inch glass negative, ... there It represented the fire insurance company, the Philadelphia Contributionship , started by Benjamin Franklin in 1752. Not ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/28/2013 - 10:49am -

Circa 1900. "Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia." Our second look at Jack the horse. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Lots of changesThe house today doesn't look anything like this. Many many renovations over the years it seems. Hardware DistrictIt's interesting how businesses of the same type used to self segregate in the cities of the time. Today the modern versions of the products sold on this street would be in a single big box "home improvement" store. Still there?It sure is: View Larger Map The fire mark is still thereIt represented the fire insurance company, the Philadelphia Contributionship, started by Benjamin Franklin in 1752. Not reallyNot only is there no evidence Betsy Ross had anything to do with the first flag, but existing evidence suggests that because of address changes over the years, this was never her house. A powerful myth, however. Coach lampsCarey & Co. haven't equipped their neighbors Hunter & Dickson and Chas. F. Mitchell with their products. Hmm. Before historic preservation was coolFrom Stewart Brand's How Buildings Learn: "As the nation approached its first centennial in 1875, the search was on for a female hero of the Revolution. Philadelphia had two candidates--Lydia Darragh, an intrepid and effective spy, and Betsy Ross, who sewed American flags and might have sewn the first one. But Darragh's house on Second Street was replaced by a hotel, so that left Ross. A campaign to save her house hustled pennies from the nation's schoolchildren. Darragh was forgotten by history. Betsy Ross entered legend." The photo with this caption in Brand's book is probably from 1876 or earlier. The Samuel Drake building is there, but the Berger Brothers building is not. The Ross house has either a cedar shake or a slate roof, not the standing seam metal shown here. The ground floor tenant is a tailor shop, and there is the winter skeleton of a tree in front, rather than utility poles. +113Below is the same view from October of 2013. (The Gallery, DPC, Horses, Patriotic, Philadelphia)
Rail-Rover Crossing: 1905
Philadelphia circa 1905. "Broad Street Station of the Pennsylvania R.R." 8x10 ... Location, Location, Location Building on the right is Philadelphia's City Hall. View is looking north and west from the mid-block ... had to turn to leave the station or be turned in West Philadelphia, which made through service inconvenient. PRR replaced the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/03/2017 - 12:01pm -

Philadelphia circa 1905. "Broad Street Station of the Pennsylvania R.R." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Of Course, it HAD to be DemolishedSuch an magnificent piece of architecture. Look at the sculpted stone details! Nearly every surface is embellished. This was constructed when Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) stock was an absolute "blue chip" that brokers could recommend to widows and orphans. (That's an old expression for a "low-risk" stock.) This is the same firm which constructed the magnificent Pennsylvania Station in New York city, also demolished! On that occasion, the NY Times editorialized that "Our civilization will not be known for the monuments it has constructed, but for those it has destroyed." More Marvelous ArchitectureThe building on the extreme right edge isn't all that shabby, either. Anyone know what is is/was? The balconyI was wondering if the deck area above the sidewalk was used as one. While looking for an access point I found two men walking back through different window-doors. So yes it was. Any ideas of what they might be selling from the cart across the street? Location, Location, LocationBuilding on the right is Philadelphia's City Hall. View is looking north and west from the mid-block (top of a building?) west of Broad Street and north of Chestnut. Trains would enter and leave the station from the left (west) and travel to the main line tracks on the other side of the Schuylkill river, roughly where 30th Street Station is today, and the continue north, south or west. The problem with the station was that it was essentially a terminal on stub line and trains had to turn to leave the station or be turned in West Philadelphia, which made through service inconvenient. PRR replaced the commuter service with the nearby Suburban Station and inter-city service was moved to 30th Street, and the station became unnecessary and was demolished. The site became a number of large office buildings and open plazas where, e.g., the LOVE sculpture now is. RE: More Marvelous ArchitectureThe building on the right is Philadelphia City Hall, and you are correct to praise it! When did it burn?The station was demolished (not burned) in 1953 but the train shed (visible at the left of the photograph) had a disastrous fire in 1923. This website has some photographs including an image after the carnage was cleared away and the platforms covered in wood and restored to service as soon as possible. Two Different Architecture Firms, Actually ...The original portion of the Broad Street Station, at the far right hand corner in this image, was designed in the Victorian Gothic style by the Wilson Brothers of Philadelphia and completed in 1881. The newer portion, which is front and center, was designed by the great maverick architect of Philadelphia, Frank Furness, and built 1892-1893. By the way, neither firm designed the late, great Pennsylvania Station in New York; that monumental piece of Beaux-Arts Classicism was designed by McKim, Mead and White of New York City, with Charles F. McKim in charge of the design. Street LightsSure got a lot of globes on those street lights. I wonder if any were saved. (The Gallery, Dogs, DPC, Philadelphia, Railroads, Streetcars)
Bright Star: 1929
... telegraphy, has been around since the 1890s. -Dave] Philadelphia Storage Battery Company Finally a Philco battery makes its ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2014 - 10:02am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1929. "No caption [radio set]." Experts please opine! Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Experimental battery charging?This photo possibly has no connection to the airplane photo. The upper tray of cells consists of 6 banks of 24 cells. The nearest cell in each tray is obscured by the vertical board. The lower tray of cells appears to be identical. The two sets of 6 knife switches appear to be in the disconnected position (both batteries disconnected from any load). At about 2.2 volts/cell, each bank would produce about 48-53 volts, depending on state of charge. That happens to be the voltage historically used at central telephone exchanges. Possibly this is a telephone company experiment that is investigating solar cell charging of batteries. Various types of solar cells may be mounted on the top of the wooden structure, facing the sun. Various loading devices to discharge the batteries, such as resistors (lower left), rheostat (large wirewound resistor with sliding contact), radio or intercomm devices in wooden boxes, and what appears to be a dial tone generator (the motor-like device), would all serve to discharge one battery while the other was being charged. The photovoltaic effect was known at the time of this picture, and experiments with cadmium-selenium photocells were being conducted. Telephone companies would have had a real interest in this method of charging, for remote sites not served by electric lines. This writer was a telephone company technician 1968-84. Just another step up the ladder of technology No expert, here, but it looks like a super-heterodyne receiver. Before shortwave, most radio only covered 2 or 300 miles, you needed a really powerful receiver beyond that range. Public Address?The floor is obviously an interior floor and the raw brick walls make it seem like a utility room. I don't understand what the sheet metal island with the angle framing is but I can't help but think that this might be the PA system at the top of the Capitol for Hoover's inauguration? Must search more. ExperimentI believe that this may have been a government sponsored experiment. Radio was still quite new and government and military were trying to see what they could do with the relatively new technology. [Radio, which got its start with wireless telegraphy, has been around since the 1890s. -Dave] Philadelphia Storage Battery CompanyFinally a Philco battery makes its Shorpy debut. It's right next to the guy's left shoe. Opining!The Philco battery next to the guy's left shoe is presumbly for the filaments. It's a 6-volt battery (3 x lead-acid cells.) The large battery on the table to the left is for the plate voltage. Lots of glass-jar cells in series. Looks like 144 cells on each shelf, but with the individual wire bundles coming off each pair of rows, and the knife-switch array at the front, it probably could have delivered quite an assortment of voltages with different selected serial/parallel arrangements. oakDon't know nothin' 'bout no radios.... but sure would like to have that nice cabinet he's twiddling dials on. Looks like nice dense old growth oak. If I were to guessA large, sloped surface, apparently on a rooftop or at the least an upper floor of a building, with radio equipment hooked up to it, makes me guess that this is possibly some sort of radar array, or something very similar. Radio?I'm not sure its a radio. There really aren't any tuning circuits in the picture. It may simply be an audio amplifier (PA System) for a stadium. More batteriesThe Bright Star "Radio Battery" is likely a C supply, for the tube grids' biasing; very low current, so a long life expected with dry cells. On the other hand, the huge array of cells remarked upon by khparker looks like rechargeable (probably lead-acid) cells and would provide ~300 Volts per tray, if all banks were switched in series. Then there's the rig on the floor, beside the 6 Volt A battery; looks like a "dummy load" bank using light bulbs, for tuning up the transmitter. Listening?Where are the speakers or ear phones? Am not sure this is a radio. Could be an early form of radar or even some type of device for transmitting or strengthening radio signals. Detection?The odd wall and roof angles appear to be some form of receiving antenna. Sitting in the background, to ensure proper calibration, is the tuning bomb. Curious about stuff on the tableThat stuff beyond the operator is intriguing. A large variable resistor or coil, some motor-like things, a large vertical frame, and those three wooden boxes. It is most likely an audio setup as others have surmised. The big wooden box looks like a power amplifier with many power output tubes visible inside. iPod nano?The prototype of the iPod nano was not as small or elegant as Steve had hoped for. Early radio telescope?Looks like some sort of receiving apparatus, but no obvious loudspeakers or headsets are in evidence. It may be an early radio telescope. It seems to me that Jansky and others were investigating signals of this sort about this time. One of the closed boxes could easily be some sort of pen recorder. Not RadarOthers have spectulated that this is a radar setup. But if the photo date is correct its very unlikely that this setup has anything to do with radar. Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) wasn't developed until the late 1930s. My father was a Chief Signalman in the Navy at the time and was one of the first to be trained in use and repair, in England. The gizmo wasn't yet in the US, and if it was it would have been secret, one supposes. Possibly relatedNext-door neighbor to this image in the Harris & Ewing archive. Radar? ILS? Meteo?The airplane in the other picture looks like a Ryan. I have no idea if the military used it at any time. It looks mostly unremarkable except for the device it has hanging under it. Looks like a bomb but I'm guessing is a speed meter of some kind. You can see the reel of cable right down the seat. And there's an instrument panel a little too complicated for that plane. The equipment could be some kind of transmitter. The huge array seems to be of capacitors. The kind of stuff you'd be needing at that time to work a high frequency transmitter. Radar was a known concept at that time and many prototypes existed. None of real practical use. It wasn't until WWII that that first high frequency valve tubes were manufactured in ranges usable for practical detection. This could be an early prototype of radar or a transmitter of a landing assistance system or part of a meteorological system. I'd say it's a military installation based on the bomb that can be seen in the back. TestingThe electronics are completely portable but the overhead structure is permanent. Steel supports penetrate floor and overhead platform. Unlikely to be radiotelescope or radar, particularly since it is indoors. The factory-style construction (heavy wood floors were standard back then) says production facility. The bomb says aircraft hangar. The overhead structure appears to be a platform for extensive outrigging and repair of aircraft. The sheet-metal enclosure may be a recent construction. Note the tin-snips and sheet metal in the lower right. Its shape matters, because it had to curve past the supporting structure rather than attaching to it. It resembles the profile of the aircraft above, if stood vertically. The seismograph-looking spool is an old-time tuner. That may be a small magneto or alternator on the bench, just to the right of the operator. The whole setup operates on vehicular power sources to replicate the conditions being investigated. This is probably a test rig for developing solutions to engine interference with radio communications. It may have been chosen because the overhead structure simulates wings. The big battery array is probably charging capacitors inside the chamber, where they spark like spark plugs. (Technology, The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing)
S.S. Miami: 1910
... stern. The famous William Cramp & Sons yard at Philadelphia launched the Miami on 23 October 1897 for Henry Flagler for ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/25/2023 - 5:19pm -

Miami, Florida, circa 1910. "Peninsular & Occidental steamer Miami off for Nassau, W.I." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Interesting vantage pointIf you look at the right side of the roof peak on the pavilion, you'll see a young lad lying on his stomach and looking toward the ship. I wonder what he wanted to see from that vantage point? Or maybe he just liked climbing on hot roofs. A bit of wrinklingto an embarrassed starboard stern. The famous William Cramp & Sons yardat Philadelphia launched the Miami on 23 October 1897 for Henry Flagler for semi-weekly service (tri-weekly during the winter season) between Nassau and Miami, then the southern terminus of his Florida East Coast Railway. It arrived at Nassau from Miami on its maiden voyage 18 January 1898. After decades in southern waters Peninsular & Occidental sold the vessel to the Atlantic City Steamship Company in June 1932, and renamed it the SS Steel Pier in honor of the Atlantic City landmark that opened the same year the Miami entered service. It ran excursions featuring live entertainment out of Atlantic City until sold and employed in the same trade at Manhattan in 1933. It found yet another owner in May 1934 when the Cape Cod Steamship Company purchased it to serve Boston, Buzzards Bay, and Provincetown during the summer, becoming a beloved fixture on that route until the end of the 1947 season, sold in October 1948 as a "new" vessel, the Diesel-driven Virginia Lee of 1928, replaced it. The Patapsco Scrap Company dismantled the Miami, as Steel Pier, in the spring of 1949 at Baltimore. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Florida, Miami)
The Enormous Radio Factory: 1925
The Atwater Kent radio factory in Philadelphia circa 1925. 8x10 glass negative, National Photo Company ... 32-acre plant at 5000 Wissahickon Avenue in North Philadelphia was sold to Philco in 1936. One of its gigantic buildings ... (Technology, The Gallery, Factories, Natl Photo, Philadelphia) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/31/2012 - 3:42am -

The Atwater Kent radio factory in Philadelphia circa 1925. 8x10 glass negative, National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress. View full size. The Enormous RadioFascinating! The Enormous RadioGood title. And one of my favorite short stories. Enormous Is RightThat is one big room, and it engenders a lot of questions. I haven't got the patience to do it, but maybe someone can attempt to count the number of people in there. Who can estimate the square footage and the height? What were the noise levels? There doesn't appear to be any heavy machinery. Were the workers allowed to talk to each other? Probably not. Is there any written or spoken history of this place? [Plenty of history if you Google Atwater Kent factory. The company's 32-acre plant at 5000 Wissahickon Avenue in North Philadelphia was sold to Philco in 1936. One of its gigantic buildings still stands (below). - Dave] PerspectiveWhile my wife gripes a lot about her job (runs a museum), these kind of photos really make me appreciate my comparatively cushy job (software developer). The Hine photos even more so. I just can’t imagine doing this kind of work all day every day. They do existOMG. A plus-sized woman! I don't know where some people get the notion that everyone was thin back in those days. Sure obesity might not have been as rampant, but there have always been fat people. What's on the Schedule?Can anyone zoom in and see what that sign says? I'd like to see what they had planned for the day's quota! [The goal seems to have been 440 (radios?) an hour. - Dave] Factory work Factory workers seem to get themselves into a routine and they work and talk to each other. I notice that most of these women do not appear to be unhappy. I worked in a electronics factory (maintenance supervisor) and my wife worked on the line. The women had a good time together and could do their jobs without thinking too much about it.They talked and passed the time with gossip etc. I still work in a factory that makes automotive parts and the workers are much the same even today. Factory work is not so bad and it generally pays a little better than retail. AK AssemblyThe women are making air-core inductors, basically a big roll of copper wire. Still used in electronics. (Technology, The Gallery, Factories, Natl Photo, Philadelphia)
Shadow-Catcher: 1839
Philadelphia, November 1839. "Robert Cornelius, self-portrait facing front, ... the yard of the Cornelius family's lamp-making business in Philadelphia, is said to be the earliest photographic portrait of a person. ... As set forth some time ago at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia's claims for priority are ... Robert Cornelius of Philadelphia ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/09/2018 - 5:44pm -

Philadelphia, November 1839. "Robert Cornelius, self-portrait facing front, arms crossed. Inscription on backing: The first light-picture ever taken. 1839." One of the first photographs made in the United States, this quarter-plate daguerreotype, taken in the yard of the Cornelius family's lamp-making business in Philadelphia, is said to be the earliest photographic portrait of a person. View full size. Sitting time?How long would an exposure have been for that process back then? This looks rather casual compared to other early portraits. Love That BobDashing devil! Love these old daguerreotypes. - Katherine How Handsome!I'd date him! What a beautiful photograph. Johnny?He looks like Johnny Depp's "Sweeney Todd" character. Mr. CWow, Mr. Cornelius was kinda ... hot. He has that Mr. Darcy look about him. Well, *had* that look about him. RobertI think the casual history of photography posits that there wasn't really any photography before the Civil War. Of course this is untrue, but I enjoy seeing this "from the beginning" example! And it's been mentioned before, but Mr. C is incredibly good looking. Being a 23-year-old 169 years after this photo was taken, that seems a bit creepy, but I guess it's good to appreciate true beauty throughout the ages. If only Mr. C had come along a little later, Colin Firth would have indeed been out of a job! CastingWill Hugh Jackman be playing him in the movie? Wild ManeAll those years of having my hair perfectly coiffed for school pictures, family portraits, team photos... and it was meant to be free from the beginning! Quite handsome!He lived until 1893. I wonder if he admired this portrait in his old age and thought, Heh, I was pretty good looking back in the day... Wonder what the rest of his life was like. Did he marry? Here's a link to an article about him from Godey's Lady's Book http://www.daguerre.org/resource/texts/cornelius.html Time MachineHe looks skeptical. Little does he know that the funny box he is staring into is connected to the Inter-Net! Robert CorneliusThe New York Times, May 4, 1895: Headline: Advance in Photograph As set forth some time ago at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia's claims for priority are ... Robert Cornelius of Philadelphia obtained the first picture of a human face by Daguerre's process in the world, November, 1839, in the yard of his residence, 176 Chestnut (710) Street ... in February, 1840, opened, at the northeast corner of Eighth Street and Lodge Alley, the first portrait studio in America, if not in the world. Good lordHe is really good looking. Jeez. Now I need to think about how he probably wouldn't be very good date material nowadays (women can VOTE???). Nicolas Huet. 1837Nicolas Huet. 1837... probably the first portrait ever made [There are questions surrounding this claim, made 10 years ago on a French web site. - Dave] How Gorgeous!!I'm in love. Too bad he's dead and I'm 70. It could have been something wonderful. SideburnsYes, please! Wowzers!Just another female chiming in about how gorgeous he is! I bet he had all the beauties swooning over him back in the day! I'd love to read more about him! Robert Cornelius.He did take another one in 1843, covering his face though. RobertThe 1870 Census shows a Robert Cornelius (60) in Philly married to Harriett (55), with four children living at home: John (30), Fannie (23), Helen (20) and Constance (16). I'm guessing this is our man from his age and listed occupation as "manuf. of gas fixture." The Census also seems to show that he was rather well off and that his son followed in the family business. What a treasure, thanks as always Dave. Mrs. DJS Robert CorneliusThe quite handsome Cornelius bears a strong resemblance to Beethoven. See 1820 portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler when Beethoven was 50. Bed-head is not something new to this generation but it seems to suit both gentlemen. Family TreeThis picture makes me want to do some genealogy work...my maiden name is Cornelius and there are many resemblances to my father and his father... huh. I don't know much as my grandfather died when my dad was little... Interesting! Heathcliff?My twin brother Carl recently showed me an edition of "Wuthering Heights" which has this daguerreotype as the front cover illustration, and we both realize...Robert Cornelius could be Mr. Heathcliff, exactly as he is described in the novel, with that handsome yet brooding countenance, including the military-style sideburns! Mr. Cornelius could also easily be a younger version of Edward Rochester, and I feel that both Charlotte and Emily Bronte would agree! Yorkshire, UKHe looks like a modern day Dr Who! Gorgeous? yes! BDIHIf anyone is wondering why this is currently No. 1 on Shorpy, it's because this Lewis Powell photo has been blogged on Jezebel.com, thanks to a post on Bangable Dudes in History. [Super. I wonder how long it'll be before Jared Loughner attains bangability. - Dave] Yup...I'd do him. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Handsome Rakes, Portraits)
The Milkmobile: 1943
... size. Door to door service In Woodlyn, another Philadelphia suburb, my first house had the kitchen in the front of the house ... more. Best chocolate and glazed donuts ever made! The Philadelphia Main Line Never Changes Entirely possible this very lady, in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/06/2014 - 8:55am -

June 1943. Bryn Mawr, Pa. Our second visit with Mrs. Helen Joyce, "one of the many women who now work for the Supplee-Wills-Jones Milk Co." Piloting a little Walker electric delivery van. Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. Door to door serviceIn Woodlyn, another Philadelphia suburb, my first house had the kitchen in the front of the house with a little door outside below the kitchen window and another door inside. One would open the door on the inside and put in the empty bottles and the milkman would put in the fresh milk and whatever else you had ordered. You had to be especially quick on summer days or the milk could spoil. The little passage was not especially energy efficient, but the home was built in a different time I vaguely remember in the early '60sthat my mother could actually order cottage cheese, cream, butter, chocolate milk and sour cream. Am I right? FirstlyNeed to try and see if that lovely house behind her is still there, and, secondly, hasn't the USPS investigated the use of modern versions of these vehicles in major urban areas? Such devices might be just the ticket. [The Postal Service is now it its third century of electric vehicle use. - Dave] Thought they might have, wasn't sure. Thanks My dairy could use some of theseWhen we moved out of the city in 1998, we were excited when we learned that our new community had a dairy that offered delivery, but we cancelled it after a few nights of their trucks loudly idling, roaring, and clanking outside house at 3 am, not to mention the huge spotlight trained on our bedroom window during the entire performance. Milk is still delivered!Theoeva, we live just outside Washington, DC, in an old neighborhood that's now a historic district, and weekly milk deliveries are still part of the scene. The farm, which serves about 8,000 homes a week in this area, offers many locally made or grown products, including gourmet cheeses, meat, and even homemade dog treats. The homemade chocolate milk was my favorite. We stopped using the service because we frankly couldn't consume the stuff fast enough. But the milk is provided in the old glass bottles in two different sizes. The firm provides an insulated metal bin that you put on the front porch in case you're away when it's delivery time. At one time, they used an old-timey milk delivery truck (gas, not electric) but I don't know if they still use it. Please rinse your emptiesYes, you could order all sorts of dairy products, as well as eggs, at least in Los Angeles you could. A fandeck of item cards was supplied, very similar to a paint sample deck -- you simply fanned out any items you wanted that day from the deck, and left it with your (rinsed, please!) empties at night. I miss the Helms trucks more. Best chocolate and glazed donuts ever made! The Philadelphia Main Line Never ChangesEntirely possible this very lady, in this exact truck, delivered milk to my house over in Haverford (the next postal district east on the Philadelphia Main Line) though that Haverford house would not become mine until 1968. Sealtest milk (and cottage cheese, butter, etc)still exist. Our street looked exactly like this too, even down to the hedge fences. I suspect, if you knew which Bryn Mawr street this was, it would look exactly the same today. Coming back soonThe first in electric mobility. Although the main concern with the milk floats may have been not to annoy the neighbourhood early in the morning with one of those noisy IC engines idling away down the road. Anyway, meet the 1943 Tesla. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano)
Third Avenue El: 1942
... be providing vitally needed transit service. Also in Philadelphia Philadelphia's Market-Frankford Line is usually referred to by locals as the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/19/2013 - 4:10pm -

September 1942. "New York. Looking north from the Ninth Street station on the Third Avenue elevated railway as a train leaves on the local track." Medium format negative by Marjory Collins, Office of War Information. View full size. Third Avenue Railway SystemTo relieve San Diego's war-time urban overcrowding, our city acquired some ancient streetcars from the TARS in the mid 1940s. They were largely of wood construction and after nearly forty years of heavy NYC service they were fairly ramshackle. Local rail men said that they noticeably flexed while going around corners, but they faithfully served here until the last streetcars were taken out of service in 1949 when the city discontinued light rail service. Socony-MobilThe 3rd Avenue El had to go, it was a relic of an earlier time. Before it was torn down in Manhattan, (It remained active in the Bronx for many more years), Third Avenue was mostly a slum.One of the the last segments to come down was in 1952 at the behest of the builders of 150 East 42nd Street who were not about to start building with the El there almost abutting the buildings on Third Avenue. The new structure was named for its major tenant, Socony-Mobil. There was a saying that the best view of the Mobil Building was from the inside, so that you couldn't see it's dimpled aluminum skin. Its still there and doesn't look any better. Am I wrongI thought the term "El" was used only in Chicago, did not New Yorkers refer to it by another name? [You can use the term anywhere you want, but in Chicago the elevated line is generally called the "L"; in New York it's the El. - Dave] An eternal source of shameThe city demolished the old but perfectly serviceable Third Avenue El in the mid-1950s, as it would soon be replaced by a snazzy new subway one block away on Second Avenue. No one seemed to care that the Second Avenue Subway had been in the planning stage since the early 1920's with no work having ever been done. The years went by with no construction on Second Avenue, with the entire East Side being dependent on the overcrowded Lexington Avenue line. In the early 1970s federal transit money became available and would cover most of the cost of the Second Avenue line, but the city took advantage of a legal loophole to skim off the federal money to stave off a five-cent increase in the transit fare (which happened anyhow). Nothing got built under Second Avenue except for a few useless unconnected tunnel segments. Finally, generations after the first plans, there is some actual construction underway on the Second Avenue line. It's only going to cover half the planned distance. Completion is scheduled for 2016, maybe. In the meantime, had it not been thoughtlessly demolished the Third Avenue El would still be providing vitally needed transit service. Also in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia's Market-Frankford Line is usually referred to by locals as the "Market-Frankford El" though parts of it do run underground. Shoe polishI am a little surprised given all the power pickup shoes on the El's haven't polished the third rail any more than is what is seen here on both sets of tracks. I would have expected to see the third rail as close to as bright as the running rails, although a little brighter than the guard rails. The Fat Men's ShopAll the way to the left of the shot you can just see Sig Klein's once-well-known Fat Men's Shop. It can be more clearly seen in this Ben Shahn photo: Lasted until 1955It seems the Third Ave El in Manhattan closed on 12 May 1955 (the part south of Chatham Square had closed a few years earlier). ..but not forgottenI have dim memories of my father taking me on the El during its final throes. I would probably have been 5 or so at the time. I left NY for good in 1970 and had not yet felt its loss in terms of overcrowding on the Lex. Ave IRT. In any case, I haven't seen reference made to the film "3rd Ave. El." Shy Shine@HenkB: Thanks for the video link! @MrK: The third rail isn't actually visible in this photo. It is has a safety "roof" which covers it with a slat of wood (nowadays being replaced by plastic). If you could see the third rail, it would be as shiny as the running rails. (The Gallery, Marjory Collins, NYC, Railroads)
Mermaid Club: 1920
"Mermaid Club, Philadelphia." Members in bathing suits circa 1920. 5x7 glass negative, George ... DVD "Dames". (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, Philadelphia, Pretty Girls, Sports) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/08/2011 - 8:20pm -

"Mermaid Club, Philadelphia." Members in bathing suits circa 1920. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size. SwimwearThese bathing suits are actually quite revealing. Speedo.......the early years. They Are The Egg MenSomething about that bathing headwear reminds me of the "I Am The Walrus" segment from "Magical Mystery Tour." SwimsuitsI think I would rather see girls walking around in these than modern string bikinis. SuperRevealing, yet bunchy. QuestionWhat you gonna do with all that frump, all that frump inside that trunk? Old vs nowCasting my vote FOR modern string bikinis. SwimsuitsLook over these 1934 (!) swimsuits in Technicolor from a clip posted on YouTube. The full 19 min movie is from the Busby Berkely DVD "Dames". (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, Philadelphia, Pretty Girls, Sports)
Trade You for an iPod: 1979
... propped up next to it? It looks like Eugene Ormandy of the Philadelphia Orchestra, except for the unbuttoned collar. Vinyl's ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 06/30/2010 - 12:43am -

It's a sobering thought that this accumulation of consumer audio gear, though approaching high-end levels but not all that esoteric for the period, may look as archaic to present-day eyes as those examples of enormous, steampunk-like telephone and radio contraptions we've see here on Shorpy. Maybe if it was all black enamel rather than brushed aluminum it wouldn't look so old-hat, er, I mean retro. Of all this stuff all I have left is the turntable; a visiting friend recently took out his cell phone and snapped a photo of it in action, then emailed it to his daughter. He said she'd never seen a record playing. Lest anyone think that some form of perverse, fetishistic self-absorbtion inspired this as well as Beam Me Up, I took these photos as a status update for a fellow audio and video enthusiast friend who had moved out of state sometime previously. A Kodachrome slide which, in keeping with the theme of nostalgic technological obsolescence, was processed by Fotomat. View full size. Ripping a CD --- 1,411 kbps>> my kids laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for best available audio quality Top Geezer, if you're ripping a CD, for best audio quality you should simply copy the native .WAV files off the disc, which is 1411 kbps. There's a setting in iTunes to let you do this. I can't let go eitherI still have most of my LPs, though I did sell all I could part with when I moved from California. Still Have my Linn Axis Turntable, My Wharfedale Diamond speakers from 1983 are barely broken in, but my NAD receiver bit the dust just last week. All this is up in the library along with my Nikon FE and my Rolleicord Twin-lens reflex. I think I'll go cry now. Jewel case #1When did you get your first CD player, and what was the first CD you ever bought? What did you think. tterrace: An Audio OdysseySome curiosity has been expressed, so here goes: I got into reel tapes because of what I hated about LPs, primarily tracking-induced distortion, particularly inner-groove toward the disc center, the grab-bag aspect of pressing quality, and of course the ticks, pops and inexorable deterioration. I got out of reel tapes because of what I hated about them: hiss and inconvenience. Hiss* was mostly taken care of by Dolby encoding, but that came during the format's final death throes and then new releases totally dried up with the advent of the CD. My first was in 1985, and I have to say I haven't missed in the slightest all the things I hated about tapes and vinyl. Tapes all went when I moved into a place too small to house them. LPs lingered because I missed the window of disposal opportunity when they still had some value, plus I was lazy. What I've kept have either nostalgia value - what was around the house when I was a kid, and some of my own first purchases c.1962 - or things not yet on CD, plus the aforementioned quads. I have to admit that I retain a certain fondness for the ritualistic aspects of playing physical media, but were it not for inertia - physical as well as mental, both undoubtedly age-related - I'd probably jump whole hog into hard disc storage, computer-controlled access and data-stream acquisition. And I'm not totally ruling out the possibility of getting there yet. *Desire to suppress tape his was the main reason I chose the Phase Linear 4000 preamp with its auto-correlator noise reduction circuitry. It kind of worked, but not transparently; I could hear the hiss pumping in and out. But it also had an SQ quad decoder that I eventually took advantage of when it was discovered that the audio tracks of some recent films on laserdisc and videocassette carried, unbilled, Dolby Stereo matrix surround encoding. By adding another small amp and two more speakers in back I amazed friends with Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark in surround sound well before it became a home theater mainstay. BTW: my advice is to use the Apple Lossless Encoder when importing to iTunes if you want maximum quality. Like FLAC, it's a non-lossy compression scheme, so there's no quality difference vs. the CD original, and you use less hard disc space. The past is the future which is nowHa! I still have my Pioneer PL-400 turntable, the same one I've been spinning on for the past 30+ years. Would love to have a tube amp, but honestly I can't beat the convenience of my early 90s Sony digital receiver. Eight functions/inputs, of which I use seven. To wit: phono [for the PL-400]; AM-FM tuner [built-in]; CD [Kenwood CD player - I don't even use it anymore]; DAT [Tascam TC-222 - has in/out so I can burn directly from vinyl to CD - and what I use to play CDs]; cassette tape [again, Tascam TC-222], video 1 [Sony DVD/SACD player - US region only]; video 2 [cheapo all-region DVD player]; and video three [MacBook or iPod]. My dad was an engineer for Motorola, and a ham radio and audio geek so I come by it honestly [thanks, Dad!] What I would give to have the reel-to-reel deck from our old living room! My kids are mp3 only, they think me a dinosaur, and laugh when I tell them they should rip/download everything at 320 kbps for best available audio quality. "It doesn't matter!" they say. I've worked in the independent record biz for 25+ years, and yes, it DOES matter. And only a house full of vinyl to show for it. The weirdest thing to me is the cassette revival these days. And some are doing it right, producing beautiful sounding reel-to-reel cassettes - metal reels, chrome tape, screwed plastic shells. Anyhow....not bragging or anything, just wanted to share. What a great photo and post! Thank you! Re: RippageThanx, Anonymous Tipster. I've looked in the preferences on my MacBook and found the import settings for WAV files, but I'm stalled there. What next? Also, the whole system comes out through Bose 2.2 monitors set into the corners of my plaster-walled living room. Turns the whole thing into one giant speakerbox. My friends are always amazed at how the vinyl sounds, esp live recordings. Once again, thanx to Dad. He gave me the monitors for my 25th birthday many, many years ago. How I miss him. [Anonymous Tipster notes that this is a setting in iTunes. So open iTunes. Preferences > General > Import Settings. Choose "Import using WAV Encoder." - Dave] My roommate had the "good stuff"We still listen to my Pioneer SX-780 receiver and my wife's Yamaha CR-420 receiver (both mid-70s) every day... mostly to NPR radio. The Pioneer also has my HDTV audio running through it in the living room. (I'm too broke for surround-sound, yet.) And with the help of an Apple Airport next to the computer in the other room and an Airport Extreme next to the Pioneer, we can stream our iTunes library all over the house. I can't argue with the true audiophiles here... the highest fidelity is lost on me these days (I'm wearing hearing aids, now). But ya can't beat the convenience factor of iTunes and a classic iPod for the sheer volume of songs you can have at your immediate access, not to mention building playlists or randomizing them--and it's all portable! But back to the past... As for turntable cartridges, my old roommate and I were always partial to the Stanton 681-EEE. We used those at the album-rock radio station where I DJ'ed (1975-78); they were practically industry-standard. They would set you back a couple of bucks, and maybe they were better than the turntable we had them in at home. But they made everything sound really great. It was my roommate, though, who had the Good Stuff. Top-of-the-line Pioneer gear, separate amp and tuner and a Teac 3340S R2R that used 10-inch reels. My tape deck was one of those unusual, slant-faced Sony TC-377 decks. Between the radio station and my roommate and all my friends "in the biz", I always had access to really great gear. Sadly, it usually wasn't mine. But I still have a ton of vinyl. Gimme that Old (High) School AudioYou know what I really, really, really miss about old-school electronic gear? Functions that had dedicated control switches or knobs, rather than being buried down several layers within one of an array of menus. Also, instantaneous response to switching or adjustments rather than digitalus interruptus, now made worse by HDMI wait-for-a-handshake. Dave: you are my hero. Very nice!I come from a long line of audiophiles, so even though I was only born in 1974, that all looks very familiar. Our setup was very similar, but we also had an 8-track. My current stereo setup has a fine-quality Dual record player I inherited from my grandfather. Just this morning, my 6-year-old daughter did a convincing boogie to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. She will totally grow up knowing the sound you hear when the needle first hits the vinyl, what we call the "crisp." And I have to agree with an earlier poster -- that totally looks like a modern photograph. How strange! StyliShure V15 Type V replacement stylus (Swiss) on eBay. [A few years ago I went to the local Circuit City (remember those?) and said I needed a new needle for my record player. The kid gave me a look like I'd asked where they kept the Victrola cranks. Finally the manager found one "in back." - Dave] MagnavoxWe were Magnavox Dealers for many years. They had one great feature, they were price-fixed. It was one of the few lines we carried that allowed us a full markup. Magnavox didn't have to police the sales pricing, we dealers ratted each other out if they were discounting. Now Magnavox is just another has-been brand (like Bell & Howell, Westinghouse or Sylvania) that can be licensed to put on any product. It shows up every once in a while on a promotional brand LCD TV or compact stereo system. Incidentally, tterrace, too bad you didn't live in Manhattan, you would have been one hell of a good customer. Love this stuffI started collecting vinyl in the mid to late 90s. It never really went away but now it's really picked up. There is hardly a major label release that isn't offered on vinyl. They are also reissuing classics as fast as the presses can make them. I bought my neighbor a turntable last year. He's now a more avid collector than I am. The real trick is keeping the vinyl clean at all times. I made a vacuum cleaning machine out of an old turntable. It does a fantastic job reviving dirty records. After they are cleaned, I slide them into a new anti-static inner sleeve. I use an anti-static brush to remove dust before each play. That removes a huge amount of surface noise. Cleaning the stylus is also important. To me, it's hard to beat the magic of a vacuum tube amplifier. I built my stereo amp from a kit about 9 years ago. You can build almost anything yourself with the kits being offered today. I build copies of classic vacuum tube guitar amps as well. I basically supply friends in local bands with free amps since I don't play guitar. It's a great hobby and soldering is a useful skill. There is just something about vinyl and do-it-yourself audio that gets you involved with the music. It makes it so much more personal. Those were the daysI used to have some stuff like that, and JBL L-100 speakers. Nowadays all that sound is still around, just smaller and in the car instead of the living room. Age vs. DolbyI don't have to worry about Dolby hiss anymore because my tinnitus is bad enough to where I hear the hiss in a silent room. I never went through a proper audiophile period mostly because I didn't have the money, but also because I never had a place where I could really put it to use until it was a bit too late. I still have my turntable but, like everyone else's, it needs a new cartridge; and the place where the stereo sits now has way too springy a floor (you can skip a CD by treading too heavily, much less an LP). These days the stereo spends most of its time being the sound system for the DVD player. My father went through his audiophile period in the fifties, and for a long time his system consisted of a tube amp whose provenance I do not recall, a massive transcription turntable and tone arm, and a home-built Altec cabinet with a 36 in. speaker (it was the '50s-- what's a crossover?). The speaker magnet weighed something like twenty pounds; the whole thing was the size of an end table. His hearing has gotten much worse than mine so he has been spared further temptation. Weird but trueAddendum - my PL-400 has two speeds - 45 and 33. What do you get when you add them together? 78. If I hold the speed button halfway down between 45 and 33, it spins at 78 rpm! I use a C-clamp to hold the button between the two and spin my 78s and have burned many of them to CD to rip into my MacBook. My 78s are now portable on my iPod. How cool is that? Phase Linear and Infinity Mon IIasBack in the mid seventies I was a service teck at a HI FI shop, We were dealers for PL and Infinity. PL was the first high-power company out there. I fixed lots of 400s (200s 200b 700s and Series 2, too). The larger Infinity speakers needed lots of power to drive. The 400 was up to it, but the crossovers in the Infinitys were very hard on the amps. The PL "turn-on thump" wasn't very compatible with the speakers. The auto-correlator in the preamp took away lots of hiss and noise, but also took away the soundstage. Plenty of tricks out there to "sweeten" up the sound of the 400, but not too many lived long enough. ELO ("Lucky Man") and Supertramp ("Crime of the Century") helped us sell lots of PL and Infinitys! I still own a pair of Mon IIas, have a few friends that still have theirs. Mon Jrs too! On another note, it was common to find audio nuts who were also camera crazy! Never seen a record playing??Tterrace, I hope your friend's daughter catches up with the times. Vinyl is in style again. Just today I went shopping with some friends and we bought a total of 35 LPs. It's smelling mighty technical in hereWAV? On a Mac? Phf. (AIFF is the native uncompressed format on Mac.) If you don't have space concerns, use Apple Lossless format, which is about half the size of AIFF or WAV. But really, 320 mp3 or AAC should be more than good enough for kids listening on an iPod. Considering how all the pop stuff these days (if that's what they're into) is so compressed (aurally, not bitwise) and saturated, it already sounds bad on the CD, so why waste the space ripping it at a high bit rate? [Lots of us (yours truly among them) are moving their CD collections onto hard drives or dedicated music servers. The .wav format has several advantages. - Dave] The most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in the linear pulse code modulation (LPCM) format. The standard audio file format for CDs is LPCM-encoded, containing two channels of 44,100 samples per second, 16 bits per sample. Since LPCM uses an uncompressed storage method which keeps all the samples of an audio track, professional users or audio experts may use the WAV format for maximum audio quality. WAV audio can also be edited and manipulated with relative ease using software. AIFF is also PCM in its uncompressed forms. And since "top geezer" specifically mentioned he's using a Mac, it only makes sense to use a format that was made for and will work better on a Mac. That'd be AIFF or Apple Lossless if he wants something without the [possible] audible colorings of mp3, AAC, or compressed WAV. Zero historyI recently finished reading the galley of the new William Gibson book, "Zero History." As with several of his earlier books (and about half of Pixar's films), it concerns itself with the relationship between humans and the things we create. We make clothes and stereos and computers, but then we define ourselves by these things as well, so which is really central -- us, or our things? Zero History raised an interesting point about patina, in that some things become more valuable if they show signs of use and others are more valuable if they are mint in box. A stereo system, I think, would fall into the latter category. Anyway, that's an eye-catching setup. Thanks as always for sharing. Questions, questionsRetro-audiophile lust! 1. Brands and model numbers please. 2. Where's your Elcaset deck? Ray GunI also have a nifty little anti-static-electron-spewing sparky gun, pictured to the right side of your "record player". http://www.tweakshop.com/Zerostat.html I BetBet your turntable plays 78s and 16s as well as 45s and 33s. I have a cheap Garrard changer of about the same vintage that does all four... which came in rather handy when I started picking up 78s at the local Symphony's book and music sale a few years ago. Oh, OKNever had an Elcaset deck, nor 8-track. I do still have a MiniDisc deck, though. Shelf-by-shelf going down: Technics SL-1300 direct-drive turntable w/Shure V15 Type V cartridge; ZeroStat and Discwasher. Phase Linear 4000 preamp; 10-band graphic equalizer whose details escape me for the nonce. Concord outboard Dolby unit atop Pioneer RT-707 reel-to-reel tape deck. Kenwood KX-1030 cassette deck. Phase Linear 400 power amp. Not shown: Infinity Monitors with the easy-to-blow-out Walsh tweeters. Somebody tell me how to get a replacement stylus for the V15 Type V. FashionsInteresting though that you -- the clothes and hair -- would fit in just fine today. Men's clothes haven't changed much in 30 years. Sure there's newer styles, such as the stupid "falling down pants" with underwear hanging out and such, but the newer styles haven't replaced the old standbys. We tend to think of fashions of the past lasting for a long time, but if you look at any 30 year time period in the pictures on Shorpy you'll see that the fashions change drastically. All in all, the picture looks like it could have been a picture of vintage equipment taken yesterday. Living it old schoolThe system here in my studio: Pioneer RT-909 open reel (10") Pioneer RT-707 open reel (7") Pioneer PL-530 turntable Pioneer CT-F1000 cassette deck Pioneer SX-727 receiver Elac/Miracord 10-H (turntable for 78s) Tascam 106 mixer Tascam 112 cassette deck Sharp MD-R3 cd/minidisc Kenwood KR-A4040 reciever TEAC X-3 Mk II open reel (7") TEAC X-10R open reel (10") Otari MX-5050 (open reel (10") KLH Model Six speakers Infinity RS-2000 speakers iPod 60gig (first generation) Let me do some mind reading.The Fotomat you took your film to was in the parking lot of Co-op shopping center in Corte Madera. Your stereo equipment was bought at Pacific Stereo in San Rafael. Or was it that high end place down at the Strawberry Shopping Center? All very cool looking stuff. I have just broken into my old gear I bought back around 1975 at P.S. I'm currently listening to some old LPs that were my grandmother's. It's fun, and they do sound better than CDs. As far as the stylus goes, check around online. There is quite a bit of interest and information about this hobby. Reel to reelI remember when "logic" was advertised as a technological breakthrough. I'm old. Call me old schoolAll I need is a vintage Voice of Music turntable to fit in my restored 1950 Magnavox cabinet model 477P radio/record player. It never had the TV option installed so I put in an inexpensive small TV from Wally World, the cable box and wireless gear. www.tvhistory.tv/1950-Magnavox-Brochure3.JPG I have the Contemporary in mahogany. Mice had been living on the original turntable. Construction of the cabinet is first rate. Sorry for drooling into your gearI always liked those Pioneer reel-to-reel decks, but still lust for a Teac. Nice Phase Linear stuff there. That's maybe an MXR EQ? Tiny, stiff sliders with rubber "knobs"? And a slide-out shelf for the turntable? But I think the real star here is the cabinet on the right with the neato doors. Jogging the tterrace memory banksThank you sjmills, that was indeed an MXR equalizer, and exactly as you described it. I eventually connected it with mega-long cables so I could fiddle with it endlessly while sitting in my acoustic sweet spot. What's under the turntable is actually an Acousti-mount, a spring-footed platform designed to minimize low-frequency feedback from the speakers. I still use it. The outfit that made it, Netronics Research & Development, is still in business I see. The smaller cabinet at right was actually my first audio equipment cabinet; my folks got it for me c.1964. It was originally designed as a piece of bedroom furniture, and was solid wood, unlike the later composition-board larger one. And rgraham, that's where the Fotomat was, and some gear did come from Pacific Stereo in SR, but the Phase Linears were beyond them; they came from some higher-end Marin place I've forgotten about. The turntable plays only plays at 33 & 45. My online searches for replacement Shure V-15 styli usually only turn up outrageously expensive new old stock or alleged compatibles whose descriptions give me the willies. Just within the past couple months my LP collection has shrunk from around 18 down to 4 linear feet. Tape squealWow, I was born the year this was taken, and when I was growing up we had one of those cassette players on the second-from-the-bottom shelf. At least, it looks very similar to what I remember. I hated it, though, in its later years while playing tapes it would randomly emit an extremely high-pitched, screeching, squealing noise. My parents couldn't hear it so one night when my dad put in a tape and it started squealing, he didn't believe that there was any and just thought I was covering my ears and begging for it to be turned off because I hated the music, until my brother came downstairs and asked what that screeching noise was. Gonna have to show this to the husbandHe will genuflect, then get a certain far-away look in his eyes. Shelli Is that a static gun?Just bellow his right hand in the background.... a static gun for zapping away the snap-crackle-pop static before placing the vinyl record on the turntable. That WAS state of the art! High School Hi-FiI will confess to still having my high-school stereo. Akai tape deck, Pioneer amp and tuner from 1977-78. The last of which I have duplicated (triplicated? Thanks, eBay) for Shorpy headquarters. Also some Sony ES series DAT decks and CD players. Acoustic Research speakers. Squirreled away in a closet, my dad's 1961 Fisher amp and tuner (vacuum tubes). Sold on eBay: Dad's early 1960s Empire Troubadour turntable. (Regrets, I've had a few.) AnalogueryNo way would I trade old analog gear for an iPod. Any good audiophile will take vinyl or a good analog source over the compressed, squashed and mastered with no dynamics file formats that iPods handle. I'm convinced that audio (recording techniques and gear) peaked in the '70s and '80s. While we have some pretty impressive gear available in this day and age, I've got some vintage gear that sounds pretty good yet and is arguably better than some more clinical sounding stuff made today. Vinyl is back as well. Local record stores are now stocking more and more vinyl. Consumer electronic shows are full of brand new turntables and phono preamps. I would love to have that Phase Linear stuff in my audio racks! Great shot. We've come a long way.But wasn't all that stuff cool? I happen to love the before MTV days when listening to tunes was a great way to relax and reflect. I think music was better too, but then I'm showing my age! I've got that same turntable.When I dug it out of the closet a few years back and needed a tune-up, I discovered I lived just a few blocks from what may be the last store of its kind. He'll have your stylus. No website and he deals in cash only -- pretty much the same set-up for the last 60 years. J and S Phonograph Needles 1028 NE 65th St Seattle WA 98115 (206) 524-2933 His LordshipI cannot read the text, or clearly recognize the person, on whatever is located to the right of the reel to reel unit but, the person looks a little bit like Lord Buckley. Heavy Metal n Hot WaxI still have about 500 pounds of old Ampex and Marantz gear, and over a thousand vintage and new vinyl sides. Sold that stuff in the 70s and worked for a recording studio in the 80s. Always a trip to give the old tunes a spin on the old gear. With DBX decoding some of those old discs can give CDs a run for the money as far as dynamic range goes. But to say any of that sounds better than current gear is wishful thinking (remember the dreaded inside track on a vinyl LP?). Most any reasonably good, digitally sourced 5.1 setup with modern speakers will blow it away. Those were the daysThis brings back memories of dorm rooms in 1978. First thing unpacked at the beginning of the year was the stereo equipment. Last thing packed at the end of the year was the stereo equipment. Love the brushed denim jeans. I only had them in blue. Back in the DayNothing could beat the sound that jumped off the turntable the first time a brand new LP was played. Electrifying! No tuner?Ah, the days of audio purity. Am I missing the tuner, or were you a holdout for the best-quality sound, no FM need apply? Great to see that stack of equipment. I'm still using my Sony STC-7000 tuner-preamp from 1975; it doesn't have all the controls of your Phase Linear, but just handling it takes me back to the good old days. Tx for the pic! R2RI grew up in a household like this, and the reel-to-reel was my father's pride and joy. But can anyone name the recording propped up next to it? It looks like Eugene Ormandy of the Philadelphia Orchestra, except for the unbuttoned collar. Vinyl's FinalI've never been without a turntable. Currently, I have a Rega Planar 3 with a Pickering XV15-1200E cartridge. Bought my first LP in 1956 and I'm still buying new ones. My receiver/amp is a Fisher 500B, a vacuum tube gem. My speakers are highly efficient Klipsch 5.5s, which are great sounding "monkey coffins." I've a Panasonic CD player and Pioneer Cassette deck for playback of those obsolete formats. Further audio responseNext to the reel deck is the box for a London/Ampex pre-recorded tape, conductor Antal Dorati on the cover; can't remember other details. No tuner, as FM audio had too many compromises for my taste. I had a receiver in the video setup for FM simulcasts (remember them?), plus I ran the regular TV audio through it to a pair of small AR bookshelf speakers. In defense of the iPod (which I use for portable listening - Sennheiser PX-100 headphones, wonderful - and did you know Dr. Sennheiser died just last month?), it can handle uncompressed audio files just fine, plus Apple's lossless compressed format, so you're not restricted to mp3s or AAC. For what I use it for, AAC is perfectly OK, and to be honest, my ears aren't what they used to be anyway. Still, for serious listening I plop down in the living room and put on a CD or SACD, or some of my remaining vinyl. Among other LPs I saved all the matrixed Quad (SQ and QS format) which Dolby ProLogic II does a reasonable job of decoding. Finally, thanks to everybody for the hints about the Shure stylus replacements, I'll check those out. Snobs!You guys and your fancy stereos. Here's mine from back in the 70s. Tuner and speakers were Pioneer I think. No idea about the turntable. Don't ya love the rabbit ears and the cord leading to the swag lamp? And of course the whole thing sat on a "cabinet" made of bricks and boards. Is that you, Arturo?Perhaps the 7-track box cover is showing Arturo Toscanini conducting a Casual Friday concert? Never saw it comingSo the future is here already? This story is both sad and frightening. Now I can't sleep without the lights on. Two-and-a-half questions: Didn't your PL 400 get a little toasty under that shelf, pushed up against the side? Did you have LPs up on the top shelf like that in October of '89? And, if so, did they stay there? That is (was) some nice gear. I'm tearing up just a little. DoratiThe tape is a 1975 recording of Antal Dorati conducting the National Symphony Orchestra in three works by Tchaikovsky. I knew I had it on LP at one time, but I had to resort to ebay to identify it. Vinyl livesWe still have a couple hundred LPs stored carefully in the garage (don't worry, they're safe from damage!). A few years ago, we had a yard sale and had the garage open but roped off. I had one guy nearly foaming at the mouth when he saw our collection. I nearly had to physically restrain him from going in and grabbing everything! We also have an turntable that's about two years old. No, it's not top of the line, but my teenage sons LOVE the silly thing and DS#2 just bought a NEW Metallica LP! He plays the *&$%## thing when he's doing the dishes. I sound like my mom: "Turn that racket down!" The PlattersThere were around 2½ million vinyl albums sold last year in the United States, which would account for 1.3 percent of music track sales. So basically it's a novelty format, like dial telephones. IncredibleMy father had everything you have in this picture, and it brings back some incredible memories I had as a child of the 70's. 1970's Man Cave!This guy had it going on. Reel too realSold off the last of my old stereo gear (nothing too impressive) at this year's neighborhood garage sale, but I've got that same Pioneer deck sitting next to me right now. Recent craigslist purchase, necessary to digitize some of my "historic" airchecks I've been lugging around for the last 40 years. Funny, I wasn't nearly as good as I remember but it is nice to have a piece of gear I always wanted! Hi-Fi FarkAs night follows day, so Farkification follows tterrace. Not to mention j-walkblog. Love the systemReally nice system. We have seven Telefunken consoles of different sizes and styles that we really enjoy. Nothing sounds as nice as vinyl played through those 11 tubes, and the quality of a stereo that cost the price of a new VW back in 1958 is as good as you'd expect. Enjoy these "artifacts," since they (in my opinion) outperform even a new high-end Bose, Kenwood or other system. Vinyl, Shellac, and Garage Sales Rock!I got back into vinyl (and shellac) about 5 years ago. There was a tiny hole-in-the-wall used high-end audio shop in my area where I got a gently used Technics 1200 series TT for $250. Got a 30+year-old Sure V15III cart and new stylus for a lot of money, about $175! I haven't looked back 3,000 LPs later, and if you've had a garage sale in SW Michigan, you've probably seen my happy face at some point! :-) Love having the artifacts in my basement, and love making MP3s out of them even more for portability. Living in the present does indeed rock sometimes. I can't remember the last time I purchased a CD... (Sadly, Bill's Sound Center closed when they demolished the whole place for a snazzy Main St. Pub.) Nostalgia never goes awayI'm not a technophile, but I know what I like...I'm going to go into the living room right now and fire up some Louis Prima on my old Benjamin Miracord turntable! Recovering Open Reel FanaticBack in the late '70s through sometime in the early '80s you could still get current-issue prerecorded open-reel tapes. Probably very few folks were paying attention, but YES for a SINGLE PENNY you could get a dozen of them when starting your brand-new membership with ... (shudder) Columbia House. It wasn't long before they stopped offering open-reel for all their titles, but the ones in the advertisements were available in any format, and I still have the ones I got early on, and some of the automatic monthly selections. (Damn they are heavy, too. Like a box of iron filings.) Somewhere around here I have Steely Dan and ELO albums on open-reel tape. It became hard finding things I wanted to listen to, though, so I had to finish out my membership agreement by getting some LPs, and that's about the time I started to realize the things from the club looked OK but were made of inferior materials and did not always sound quite right. But of course I was about fifteen years old and it was an educational experience. It took me a few more years to get over my fascination with open reel decks, but I still have two corroding in the garage. Anyone remembertape deck specs for "wow and flutter"? Vinyl - jazz and bluesI still have the bulk of my jazz and blues vinyl collection, though I did unload some of it. Had to buy a new amp last month to play them after my old one gave up after at least 25 year service. Got a Cambridge Topaz AM1, not very pricey but does the job. Muddy Waters and Thelonious Monk rule! Am I actually this old?This was stuff I longed for in the '70s, but never managed to afford. To me it still feels semi-contemporary and definitely impressive. BTW, is the very concept of high fidelity now as out of date as this old hi-fi equipment? Judging from the execrable audio I've heard coming out of a series of cell phones I've owned over the last decade, I'm beginning to think that the basic ability to notice audio distortion may have been lost as interest in hi-fi was lost. Reel-to-reel had an advantageOne could copy whole albums, and the length was for hours. In the late 80's, I knew some serious audiophiles who had Carver CD players, Nakamichi cassette players, and reel-to-reel players, on which they'd store hours of jazz music. Turntable MemoryMy buddy and I have been mobile DJ's for close to 30 years. Back in the days of lugging three large boxes of LP's and 4 heavy boxes of 45's, sometimes up flights of stairs, and index cards for looking up song location, we had two QRK turntables we got from the radio station where my friend worked. One evening we were on the upper level of a hall with a very spungy floor. We didn't realize how much the floor would move until we started a polka and the dance floor filled with people. A few moments later the record skipped and we realized that we were bouncing, a lot. We grabbed a few quarters out of our pockets and put them on the tone arm, and then both of us pressed down with all our might to keep our stand from moving. We were very, very afraid to play anything uptempo. I still have a turntable, a bunch of vinyl, and a Teac open reel deck. I'm converting some shows I did many years ago to digital. (ShorpyBlog, Technology, Member Gallery, Farked, tterrapix)
The Unknown Soldier: 1863
... citizen, veteran or otherwise. Dr. Richard Burr, Philadelphia According to this link the embalmer is Dr. Richard Burr of Philadelphia. Photographer Known This was taken by Mathew Brady. I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 8:58pm -

Circa 1861-1865. "Unknown location. Embalming surgeon at work on soldier's body. From photographs of artillery, place and date unknown." Wet plate glass negative, photographer unknown. Library of Congress. View full size. Take a good lookThis, along with the color picture of the sailor treated for burns received at Pearl Harbor, is part of war. It must be faced squarely. In fact, if we don't look at pictures like these, we are disrepecting the fallen. I think it was Sherman who said, "It is good that war is so terrible, or we should become too fond of it". My vote Dave, is more of these types of images, not less. Spare me this photoI can appreciate that this old photo is from the civil war, however, seeing the remains of a young man being embalmed is somewhat macabre and disrespectful to a soldier who bravely served his nation. This is not a battlefield photo. There is no dignity in this photo. You also run photos from the sixties. I don't think you would feature a photo of a young Marine being embalmed in Vietnam. [No, we wouldn't. But in a hundred years we might. - Dave] Solemn reflectionI believe there is dignity in any photo of any soldier, dead or alive. Most people who visit Shorpy reflect upon photos like this with proper and due respect. Also with an acute awareness of what this young man, and others like him, sacrificed. In other words, most people here know this isn't posted for the shock value. This just isn't that type of site. "It is good that war is so terrible"That quote was from Robert E. Lee, not Sherman. Sherman's famous quotes on the war include "I can make Georgia howl" and "war is hell" (which he actually said several years after the war). I agree with anonymousWar is harsh. Too many of our generation think it's glorified and great. Being raised on video games and movies that don't show actual consequences, it's important to see it. Fits the new tag line"Always something interesting" ... boy, you said it! This is a great image for a number of reasons, the grit of our human plight never fails to impress me. thanks, jonny We need to be remindedI agree with posting this photo, as well as the battlefield photo of the other day. That one has haunted me since seeing it, thinking of the millions of people who have died in wars since then. Here we have a photo of a dead man, who otherwise would be thinking about his family, dinner, next season's crops. Instead, those who remain behind must do without him. I do think there are necessary wars, but we must remember what going to war means. Civil War RequiemFrom a series of photos that appeared here a few months ago. War's WindfallThis photo is featured in Drew Gilpin Faust's "This Republic of Suffering" (Knopf, 2008) along with a detailed account of America's "new relationship with death" as the result of the estimated 620,000 solders killed or lost to disease in the Civil War. Faust reports this staggering number is approximately equal to the total American fatalities in the Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II and the Korean War combined. Some historians estimate that nearly 50,000 civilians also lost their lives as a result of Civil War military action. Never before, or since, has America endured so many deaths to a single cause. If a comensurate proportion of deaths hade occurred in World War II, Americans would have lost 6 million soldiers. Faust's fascinating book recounts the cultural and societal impacts of the Civil War's dead. Emblaming was a new technology in the 1860's and there seems to have been a specualtion market in corpses of the killed during the war - some enterprising embalmers would embalm first, then seek the greiving family to strike a bargain. Prices were scaled according to military rank - presumably because officer's families could pay more. One Undertaker reported charging five dollars for a private soldier, one hundred dollars for a colonel, and two hundred dollars for the emablming of a brigadier general. According to Faust, he undertaker told a Yankee newspaperman, "There's a lot of them [corpses] now, and I have cut the acquaintance of everything below a major. I might,' he added, 'as a great favor, [embalm] a captain, but he must pay a major's price. I insist upon that. Such windfalls do not come every day. There won't be such killing for a century." Goober Pea Government policyInteresting how so many are rushing to the defence of posting pictures of embalming or medical autopsies of fallen soldiers and yet in these modern times our government has forbidden any photographs of flag draped coffins of the fallen returning home from Iraq or makes press coverage of military funerals in Arlington cemetery almost impossible. [That's not quite the situation. The U.S. government never banned photographing coffins, flag-draped or not. What it did was decline to release official photos of same at the request of news organizations, which then filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, which they won. The government is now obliged to release official photographs of coffins returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Details here. Also, this has nothing to do with whether you can take pictures of coffins at Arlington, or news coverage of funerals there, which are covered all the time.- Dave] The last journey homeThis photo has considerable historical importance, because for centuries a dear wish of soldiers and their families has been that, if they fall, their bodies be returned home for burial. The Civil War saw great strides both in awareness and in the technology of embalming for this purpose. Thousands of fallen officers and soldiers were buried at home rather than where they fell. The culmination was the long journey home of Abraham Lincoln, whose embalmed body was viewed across the country for 19 days before finally being laid to rest in Springfield. The deceased in this photo was likely as not an officer, since the military's original commission of professional embalming was intended, at least primarily, for officers. DignityI'm interested that Dr. Campbell sees "disrespect" and "no dignity in this photo." My response is almost the exact opposite of his. I am reminded of images of Christ entombed, and at the same time, looking at the face of this dead soldier, I feel a connection to a particular person. I am moved by the tenderness of the surgeon's left hand, resting on the soldier's body. The opening of the tent into darkness behind the pair. For me, this is a powerful picture, and one I'm willing to open myself to in a way that I can't or won't to the (also powerful) pictures of the dead on the battlefield. EmbalmingAs a former embalmer, I find the photo interesting. It's difficult to tell if the tube with the valve is entering the chest cavity or if it goes to the tubes that can be seen entering the neck. Modern embalming is done through the carotid artery and jugular vein. I assume that the fluid was poured from the pitcher into a funnel attached to the hose. Later years saw the introduction of the gravity-fed "percolators." Electric pumps are used today. This unfortunate fellow seems to have died from illness. He is very gaunt and I can't see a fatal wound, though there does seem to be a mark of some sort on his abdomen. History is his storyLife isn't always pretty. When I first saw this picture my thoughts went out to the poor solder lying there. I noticed that under his beard was a very handsome face. I wonder if he had a sweetheart, wife, or mother praying for his safety. I also noticed how skinny he was and if perhaps he was in a POW camp where conditions were harsh for everyone. I noticed the primitive embalming methods but wondered if his family found some small comfort in knowing what happened to him and having a body to bury. Many never knew. Some of the pictures here are very lighthearted, but others like the poor children working in factories always make me sad. No matter the pictures I always think and wonder about the subjects. I like the mix you have here because it is a reflection of what life is really like. Sometimes warm, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. The Lean YearsI imagine a lot of soldiers were on the skinny side by the time the war had been going on a few years. Final SaluteThe picture at the following URL was nominated and won its category in 2005 or 2006. http://rockymountainnews.com/news/2005/nov/11/final-salute/ Pause for a moment and witness American's reverence and respect for our fallen (as seen in the photo). Then read of the pain of a wife coming to claim her loved one. There is no cover up. Dignity of CareFor me, it's the almost tender expression in the surgeon's face as he looks down upon this young man he is laying to rest. His care adds to the dignity of this photo. War is hell, and so long as the photos are for our observation and education, it is a good thing to post them. They are difficult to look at, but they give us a clear view of what men went through, and men and women are going through now. Keep them coming Dave, you have an excellent eye for a captured moment in time. Tastefully doneA both timely and appropriate photo. The link provided above is especially poignant. I've seen this particular photo in a number of venues. It was handled very tastefully on this site. Such photos educate and enlighten us about a day and age we'll never see. Final SaluteThanks for the link to the Rocky Mountain News story. Some read stories and statistics of war and think "That's war." Shorpy's pictures and this story make it very personal. A MemoryOne of my fondest memories (if fond is appropriate) was, as a teenager, being in the family car of my father's funeral. On the drive to the cemetery we passed by a house where an old man was raking leaves. He heard the hearse approaching and then turned, removed his hat and stood at attention with his hand over his heart until we had passed. A poignant tribute to a fallen fellow citizen, veteran or otherwise. Dr. Richard Burr, PhiladelphiaAccording to this link the embalmer is Dr. Richard Burr of Philadelphia. Photographer KnownThis was taken by Mathew Brady. I recently saw it in a book of his photography. The Unknown SoldierI have to use this photograph for a project that I have to do in History. It is called the Gallery Guide, and I really don't care for this project but I do apperciate the photographs of the Civil War that we have to use. This is one of the better photographs that I am using for the project. I like to wonder who this person is in the photo. I wonder if he had children, or a wife or parents who were worried. The less you know about a photograph makes it all the more intersting. The Unknown Soldier of GettysburgIf you're curious about soldiers and their deaths' impact you should read the fascinating multi-part piece Errol Morris is doing on Amos Humiston. His body was found on the Gettysburg battlefield with no ID except for a photo (Ambrotype) of his three children. To date there are three installments. The first of which is at: http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/whose-father-was-he-part-one/ Could be my great-great-grandfatherI have a great-great-grandfather who served in the Civil War (and more family as well). His name was Mansel W. Brown; he died in Richmond, Virginia. I had heard he died of measles outbreak. I enjoy any and all pictures of OUR HISTORY. WarMansel W. Brown Is my Family also. (The Gallery, Civil War, Medicine)
Penn O'Clock: 1905
Philadelphia circa 1905. "City Hall." And its clock-topping, 26-ton statue of ... any road entering the city. Sad! (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/04/2023 - 3:29pm -

Philadelphia circa 1905. "City Hall." And its clock-topping, 26-ton statue of William Penn. Composite of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Puts the Empire in Second EmpireNow that’s how you do Second Empire. How'd they do it?How do you get a heavy guy like that way up there? Did they have a scaffolding around the tower? I'd like to see it under construction. [His 14 sections were hoisted into place by derrick crane. - Dave] Details from 1992It was overcast in the afternoon. I couldn't go inside, but I did take these details of the city hall exterior, which was being cleaned from the clock tower down, roof, and bronze door. The details are impressive. He stood tall until 2007Prior to 2007, there was an unofficial agreement that no building would be allowed to rise taller than the William Penn statue. After the Comcast Center was finished in 2008, it opened the floodgates and now, the downtown area is cluttered with towering, ugly skyscrapers. No longer can you see Penn from almost any road entering the city. Sad! (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia)
Phila Up: 1904
Philadelphia, 1904. "Land Title Trust Building, Broad Street." The umpteenth ... Looks as good as new today! (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/18/2023 - 5:59pm -

Philadelphia, 1904. "Land Title Trust Building, Broad Street." The umpteenth appearance on these pages of this early skyscraper. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size. PossibilitiesThe rise (?) of such buildings was made possible by many technical advances such as steel design and engineering, but right at the top is Elisha Otis's safety elevator. The Same View Today There's a lot still thereFrom what I can tell, everything on the left in 1904 from the Second Empire building with the curved staircases to City Hall is still there. Although at least one building closer to City Hall, that looks like it was originally a bank, has been repurposed as a Ritz-Carlton hotel. +109Below is the same view from October of 2013. ImpressiveOh, 8x10, you've done it again. Superb image and stunning building. Just imagine how much weight is behind all that masonry added to the steel skeleton and interior fit-out. Looks as good as new today! (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia)
Rays Hill Tunnel: 1942
... we'd travel the PA Turnpike from Pittsburgh to suburban Philadelphia to visit my grandparents. The turnpike tunnels were always the ... to the Pennsylvania Railroad's control of the line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. JP Morgan negotiated a treaty between the NYC and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/09/2023 - 3:56pm -

July 1942. "Pennsylvania Turnpike, Pennsylvania. Rays Hill Tunnel." Abandoned in 1968. Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size. Stop for a warningA look at that narrow roadway occasions a shudder, imagining vehicles moving toward each other on two lanes, without center divider or shoulder and in bright artificial lighting. Any accident would be a nightmare to deal with, even if it didn't involve fire or a spill. Not long ago, I found myself creeping in traffic for several miles leading into Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill Tunnel, which is on I-376 not far from where it separates from the Turnpike. The reason? A single abandoned vehicle inside the tunnel, no police presence or assistance yet. And that is a two-bore tunnel with two lanes in each direction. Highlight of our tripWhen I was a kid, we'd travel the PA Turnpike from Pittsburgh to suburban Philadelphia to visit my grandparents. The turnpike tunnels were always the highlight of the trip, particularly the double-tunnel at Kittatinny and Blue Mountains. The tunnels were actually built for the never-completed "South Pennsylvania Railroad," intended by Cornelius Vanderbilt to be a competitor to the Pennsylvania Railroad's control of the line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. JP Morgan negotiated a treaty between the NYC and PRR. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pennsylvania_Railroad for the railroad history, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Turnpike for the turnpike history. The view from aboveThe view today from the ventilation room above the entrance, home to the Rays Hill sign. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Cars, Trucks, Buses)
Old Philly: 1908
Philadelphia circa 1908. "Delaware Avenue, foot of Market Street." 8x10 inch ... Adams Express Borax Soap Clyde Steamship Company Philadelphia, New York, Paris The Bassett Ice Cream Co., 504 Market St. ... the rest of his life. *Gimbel's operated a store in Philadelphia but they were from New York, ninety-six rail miles from the center ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 10:12am -

Philadelphia circa 1908. "Delaware Avenue, foot of Market Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Employee/management issueMan and horse seem to disagree about something. The horse is probably not happy with his benefits package and 401K. Aside from the historical interest... this is just a fantastic composition. Lens Flares!OK - Did these guys pose or was the shutter speed that fast? Mad HatterI love how this horse has a straw hat on! Horse with a hat.I love the Horse with a hat. The guy in the buggy must had loved his horse. It's next to the Bassett Ice Cream wagon. What a priceless photo. You can lose yourself in this pictureI love these photos, lots to see. An ice cream wagon, a horse wearing a hat. A reluctant horse, borax soap and a huge box of corn flakes. And I'm just getting started. Paved overAll of this is torn down and paved over today. But you can find some interesting things on the history of the area. Pier 3 Condominiums, for example, has collected a lot of information about the old waterfront. Among the details is a reference to an elevated railway connecting to the Market Street Subway: "completed on Delaware Avenue from Arch to South Streets in 1908. This route was known as the Delaware Avenue El or the Ferry Line, since its stops served the various ferries to New Jersey. There were two stops, one at Market-Chestnut and one at South Street where the line stub-ended." This looks like the "stub end." Wait!Where's MY hat? Stones in the RoadWhat intrigues me the most about this and many other old photos is the cobblestone streets. There must have been billions of stones. Where were they produced? How long did it take to pave a given area? Pain In The AssThat fellow in the foreground seems to be having trouble motivating his mule. Mad HatterCheck out the horse with a straw hat on the bottom right hand corner. Doesn't look like protective gear but an actual straw hat with ear holes! Too cute. HorselesslessGee, not a horseless carriage in sight. FinallyA horse with a hat! Terrific vignette of a vibrant commercial centre. So much to see and enjoy. FrustrationI wouldn't know what would be worse, a stubborn car or a stubborn horse. What a great photo. How many horses?I lost count at 40! Breakfast TimeBoy, I feel like some Toasted Corn Flakes. If only they'd "fall off the back of a truck." Four-Legged DrivePerhaps the driver at the bottom center is having difficulty shifting his commercial vehicle from the "idle" position. Tags Adams Express Borax Soap Clyde Steamship Company Philadelphia, New York, Paris The Bassett Ice Cream Co., 504 Market St. Toasted Corn Flakes My Great Grandparents' WorldGreat image of the area where my great-grandparents lived and my grandfather was born (Chestnut and 5th in 1905). Thank you, Dave, for all the wonderful images of Philly. Tug a little harderLooks like ol' Bessie doesn't want to go! This is the best!I adore this photo! So much activity here and it is a visual feast. Thank you Dave. More please? Bassett's Ice CreamStill in business at (and one of the original merchants still in) the Reading Terminal Market. That Thar horsea pullin' that ice cream wagon is wearing a chapeau I wonder who wonthe man or the horse at the bootum of the picture. Just above that wagon is a horse with a nice chapeau. Horses do have hats!Personal pet dress up or some other reason? Only John WanamkerThe fanciest rig in the scene, drawn by a pair of white horses, is from Wanamaker's department store. No Philadelphian would have expected it to be otherwise. My grandfather drove deliveries for Lit Brothers, a good department store but a few rungs below Wanamaker's (Strawbridge & Clothier was also below Wanamaker but above Lits*). He bore the mark of a horse kick he sustained on the job for the rest of his life. *Gimbel's operated a store in Philadelphia but they were from New York, ninety-six rail miles from the center of everything, so they can't be properly placed within this spectrum. Stone AgeMan, that's a lot of paving stone! All of them laid by hand. What a backbreaking job! I'm guessing they just paved over them, as they did here in NYC. Laying Paving StonesI watched a guy laying paving stones by hand outside the main train station in Pisa, Italy in 1987. He would pick up a stone, put it into place, and set it with one hit from a mallet. Although he was laying a curved pattern he could set up about 1 stone every 4 to 5 seconds. It was amazing how fast he could lay them. A quick count shows there are about 3 x 7 stones in an area about 1 square yard (I counted the stones around the manhole cover which is probably about 36 inches across). The square is about 40 yards wide and say 600 yards long in the picture (I'm lousy at estimating distance, so pick your own numbers). That's 24,000 square yards or about 500,000 paving stones. At 12 stones/minute (my Italian guy) that's 70 man-days (10 hour days) to lay this many stones. So a team of 10 guys could do it in a week, if each had a helper to fetch stones. Of course you have to prepare the ground, haul the stones, etc. Still with less than 50 people it wouldn't take more than a summer to do. That's just a back of an envelope calculation, but it's not hard to see that in a city of this size, the labor to make it happen could easily be hired. CobblestonesShips from the New World crossed the Atlantic laden with goods for trade. Most ships required ballast when they made the return crossing because they didn't bring equal tonnage back with them. The off-loaded ballast stones became paving stones for Philadelphia's early streets. Disgruntled equineSaw the hat and wants one. Not moving till he gets one like his friend has. Stony BallastI grew up in Philadelphia and lived in the Frankford neighborhood when I went to college. I believe this elevated "stub" became part of the Frankford Elevated which was completed about 1925 and connects to the Market St subway. I rode the El everyday for several years. The cobbletones are said to have come from Europe as ballast in sailing ships. The primary cargo flow was natural resources from America to Europe and ballast was needed for ship stability on the trip from Europe to America. No idea how they were originally made. A lot of cobbletone areas remain in Phila, they serve to keep traffic speeds down. Shadow curveAs has been noted, the El originally terminated at the ferries to Camden, with the elevated track doing a 180 degree turn before going into the subway. This curve can be seen in shadow at image left. The track continues behind and left of the camera, terminating at South Street. This branch stayed in operation into the 1940s. Men in HatsNot just for horses. All the men are sporting a variety of hats from straw boaters to caps. I like the boater on the man to the right pushing a handcart. Harry Kyriakodis has a book on the Philadelphia waterfront full of interesting info. My ancestor had a sailmaking loft on Del Ave in the 1890s McGinnis & Fitzgerald. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Railroads, Stores & Markets)
Home Improvement: 1938
... that eyesore. Workingman's House In the Philadelphia Rowhouse Manual , this is labeled as a mid to late 19th century ... on the detailing. As Camden is essentially a suburb of Philadelphia, this house probably follows the general type built in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/10/2014 - 9:52pm -

October 1938. "Factory workers' homes in Camden, New Jersey." 35mm negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size. Forget the windowsFix that rotting cornice! Neighbors are beginning to wonder when hubby is going to tackle that eyesore. Workingman's HouseIn the Philadelphia Rowhouse Manual, this is labeled as a mid to late 19th century Workingman's House. I would guess this example dates to no later than the 1880's based on the detailing. As Camden is essentially a suburb of Philadelphia, this house probably follows the general type built in the Philadelphia area pretty closely. PerfectThe horizontal bands of sky at top and curb/street at bottom, and the shadow of a utility pole on the building make this a very special image by one of the FSA's greats. Where's the Windex?It appears that the lady of the house smeared the window cleaner on the window on the left but didn't wipe it off and then moved to the window on the right...so, not being a domestic engineer I'm wondering about the process. [She's using a product like this. -tterrace] Glass Wax?She might have been using Glass Wax, which my parents were using in the 1950s. It had the same effect. Leave a haze and wipe it off. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Kids)
Flyboy: 1917
... On the first leg of the journey from New York to Philadelphia the pilot, Lieut. Steven Bonsal Jr., lost his way in a fog over ... to descend at Bridgeport, N.J., 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia, smashing his machine as he landed. Lieut. Bonsal said that he ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/27/2012 - 1:50pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Allied aircraft demonstration at polo grounds. Avro training plane designed by A.V. Roe of England. Lieut. Stephen Bonsal Jr., one of the young Army flyers who have entered the newest profession, that of airplane mail carrying, is the son of the former war correspondent and veteran newspaperman who is now a major attached to the general staff of the Army." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Lieut. Bonsal Hits a FenceWashington Post, May 17, 1918. AERO MAIL IS DELAYED Accidents Mar Second Day's Service With New York. LIEUT. BONSAL HITS A FENCE Swerves to Avoid Horses in Landing At Fair Grounds in New Jersey. After undergoing various delays, the aeroplane mail from New York arrived in Washington last night at 8:42 o'clock, six hours and twelve minutes behind schedule, marking the second day of America's aerial mail service by another accident. On the first leg of the journey from New York to Philadelphia the pilot, Lieut. Steven Bonsal Jr., lost his way in a fog over Delaware Bay and was forced to descend at Bridgeport, N.J., 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia, smashing his machine as he landed. Lieut. Bonsal said that he was driving a new machine and that he had ascended to an altitude of 8,000 feet so as to be high enough to manipulate his plane in the event of an accident. When he realized that he was off his course he picked out the old Bridgeton racetrack for a landing place. It is now used as a horse bazaar and was filled with horses. In landing, Lieut. Bonsal made a nose dive to drive away the horses, but they would not scare, he said, and in order to avoid killing some of the animals he swerved into a fence, breaking the propeller and one plane. Lieut. Bonsal was uninjured. Mail by a Relief Plane. A relief plane was immediately sent to Bridgeton and the mail taken to Philadelphia. At the latter city the mail was transferred into a plane piloted by Lieut. Walter Miller, and he started on the second leg of the journey to Washington at 5:50 o'clock. After going about 30 miles, Lieut. Miller noticed that the spark plugs in his plane were too close together, and that the engine was missing, so he returned to Philadelphia. There were no relief planes in Philadelphia so Lieut. James C. Edgerton, who carried Washington's first aeroplane mail to that city this morning, volunteered to make the trip and left Bustleton, Pa., at 6:33 p.m. for this city. Just as the twilight was fading Lieut. Edgerton landed his plane on the aviation field in Potomac Park. Although it was virtually dark he made a perfect landing. The consignment of mail for Washington amounted to 218 letters and was delivered by special messengers at 9 o'clock. Lieut. Edgerton's Success. The plane piloted out of Washington by Lieut. Edgerton yesterday morning at 11:30 o'clock carried 7,360 letters to New York and 570 for Philadelphia. Of these 3,630 were for New York City delivery, and 3,730 for distribution in New York State and New England. Twelve Killed in Two Weeks. Twenty-nine flying fields are being operated by the army air service in the United States. Four other fields will soon be opened for flying instruction, increasing the total to 33. During the two weeks ended May 8 aviation accidents at the American fields took a toll of 12 lives, the War Department announced. Out of this total two were killed at Hazelhurst field, Mineola, N.Y., and two at McCook field, Dayton, Ohio. Early Air MailN.Y. Times, May 19, 1918. AERIAL MAIL SERVICE RUNS WITHOUT HITCH Letters Delivered on Time in All Three Cities Involved -- May Use Larger Airplanes. The airplane mail service between Washington and New York via Philadelphia worked without a hitch yesterday, the mail being delivered on time in all three cities now included in the daily aerial service. Lieutenant Stephen Bonsal, who piloted the machine which brought the Washington and Philadelphia mail to New York, arrived at Belmont Park at 2.52 P.M. yesterday, having covered the distance between Philadelphia and New York in one hour and seven minutes — that is, at a speed of approximately 90 miles an hour. Lieutenant Bonsal left Belmont Park with the New York mail boxes for Philadelphia and Washington at 11.23 A.M. yesterday, and landed on the aerial mail field in Philadelphia at 12.38 P.M. Lieutenant Paul Culver brought the Washington mail to Philadelphia, where he transferred it to Lieutenant Bonsal, who piloted it to New York. It was said at the Post Office that the mail brought by Lieutenant Bonsal, which arrived at the Pennsylvania Station Post Office at 3.15 P.M., was distributed within an hour after its arrival. Lieutenant Culver piloted the machine which took the mail to Washington from New York and Philadelphia. The total round trip flying time between Washington and New York yesterday was unofficially reported last night to have been a little more than five hours. A plan to use larger airplanes in the service to Philadelphia and Washington because of the unexpected increased use of the mail is under discussion by the postal authorities, it was reported yesterday at Belmont Park. It was said that all persons except army men and Post Office employes directly concerned in the mail service would hereafter be barred from the field, as a measure of precaution against accidents. There will be no flight today. Coolest job in the worldat that time. Cigarettes, Airmen and AirmailCigarettes and airmen seemed inseparable - military planes had ashtrays well past WW2. Smoking did in my father, a Marine aviator, at a somewhat early age. Meanwhile, after nine years of Army air operations, with many deaths in the early years, the government began awarding mail routes to commercial carriers, encouraging the flying of regular routes, and making it possible to take passengers on a subsidized basis, since the planes were flying anyway. This program, although marred by favoritism and a public scandal in 1934, developed the infrastructure for all-weather scheduled flights and improved airplanes, that put US aviation into a leadership position. By 1933, millions of pounds of airmail were delivered annually across the nation - a lot of progress in 15 years. Handsome RogueI vote for the HR tag on this daring young man in his flying machine. 23-skiddoo! HR!Second vote for HR tag here. I'm surprised there aren't more of us making a fuss over this one! Love the sweet, slightly shy look in his eyes. (The Gallery, Aviation, Handsome Rakes, Harris + Ewing, WWI)
Streamliner: 1938
... the railhead when stopping. Philly pickles Philadelphia had the very same streetcars, painted green. As a child I called ... bus named Desire. It ain't pretty. These still run in Philadelphia The No. 15 trolley still runs along Girard Avenue to the zoo. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/23/2012 - 11:39am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1938. "Streamlined street car passing Washington Monument." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Which end is up?Oh, there it is, just follow the arrows! Something missing here?OK, I give up, where is the overhead line that supplies power to the car? The "antenna" is there but it seems locked down. We still have a few cars of this vintage running (for special occasions only) here in Toronto. [There's no overhead line because the power supply was underground. - Dave] That's the PCC!In the 30s, the heads of all the major urban transit operations got together and decided that they needed a more modern streamlined image than the old "trolley car," most of which were still boxy wood contraptions. They set up a President's Conference Committee (PCC) to come up with new concepts and designs. The result was the PCC car -- all metal, quiet, sleek, fast and MODERN! Production started in the late 1930s, to be interrupted by the War of course. We LOVED riding them, feeling like we were Junior Buck Rogers in that streamliner. Old Number 1135The car shown is No. 1135. A nearly identical car, 1101, is preserved at the National Capitol Trolley Museum in Maryland. Click for more info. Although the trolleys got power from underground when in the District, the electric power aerial was raised when in the suburbs to draw power from overhead wires, as shown in the color photo. The last Washington trolley ran in 1962, when the old D.C. Transit system converted to diesel buses. Now the D.C. suburb of Arlington County in considering bringing the trolley back to the Columbia Pike corridor. What was old is new again! Up and DownPower for the streetcars was underground only in central D.C. For example, the Wisconsin Ave line switched from underground to overhead somewhere around R Street. There was a worker who spent his shift in a hole in the ground who handled the "shoe" which picked up the underground and another who put up the overhead pickup. All this on the hill. Process reversed for cars coming back from Friendship Heights. UndergroundThere is under the car, between the rails a slot in the pavement like a cablecar. Washington, DC did not allow streetcar overhead, so when the cars crossed the city limits, the car would stop over a pit, the pole would be lowered, and a "plow" would be attached to the bottom of the car. Being the pitman must have been a great job in the winter. You can see the slot between the rails here. Clang, clang!My love for streetcars, cable cars, and trolleys knows no bounds. If not the fastest way of getting around, they're a damn sight faster than NYC buses in rush hour. (I'd love to know how streetcars compare carbon-footprint-wise with cars and buses.) Chevy ChaseI remember seeing these cars in the 1950s, when they pulled into Chevy Chase Center station. At that time they were painted light green and orange on white, the colors of D.C. Transit. At that station, there were a maze of overhead wires, quite impressive! A ride, as I remember, cost 35 cents. What comes around...The city of DC has just last week begun laying tracks for a modern streetcar system on H-street NE. As a homeowner there, I have been thinking about the history of streetcars in the city a lot lately. There is a federal law on the books banning overhead wires in much of DC. The law was passed sometime in the late 1800s. The law continues to be a hurdle, as the kind of underground conduit system used on the old system is very expensive, difficult to maintain, unreliable, adds insurance liability to the system, and gets clogged up by snow in the winter. Before DC can send trains down the new tracks, it will most likely be necessary to have Congress make an exception to that old law, something that will no doubt be difficult to do, as DC has NO representation in Congress. Modern streetcar wires are very thin and unobtrusive, but progress towards alleviating the second-worst traffic congestion in the country (after LA) will likely be held up over politics. I look forward to traveling to work above-ground like these people here in the next-generation modern air-conditioned street cars. [The District is represented in Congress by delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat. - Dave] Power Supply for CarThe car has a trolley pole in the down or retrieved position as it drew power from a conduit through a steel slot between the tracks. This system was required by local law and was also used in Manhattan, NYC. When car left D.C. limits, pole was raised to engage trolley wire power source and "plow" under car was disengaged as conduit power source ended. The conduit power system was much more expensive to construct and was only used where required by law. PCC Fun FactsPCC cars were in regular service in San Francisco till 1980, and are still operated, along with other historic cars, on the new "F Line" that runs along the Embarcadero and Market Street, as a tourist attraction connecting to the cable car routes. The PCC embodied many advances - rubber bushings and wheel cushions to reduce rattle and vibration, hypoid gears to eliminate noise, and later on, an all-electric model that eliminated the chugging compressor for air brakes. It was discovered that even standing passengers could deal with greater acceleration if it was smoother, so the old 14-point controller handle with its surges of power was replaced with an automated 99-step controller that produced seamless acceleration and braking. The design is widely recognized as a classic and was exported or licensed to Europe and South America. So they're coming back!A ridiculous, expensive, unsightly indulgence for train buffs and people who think they're "saving the planet." With the tab picked up by you, the taxpayer. Buses are much more cost-efficient and accomplish exactly the same thing. TourmobilesI'm not sure which is worse, these or the modern ubiquitous Tourmobiles. PCC CarsWhen I lived in St. Louis in 1950, I depended entirely on their wonderful public transport system to get around the city. They still had a lot of the old "growler" type streetcars and many buses, but there were many of the PCC type trolleys also. PCCs were faster and quieter than the buses, in fact, I have been waiting for a car on a downtown corner and did not hear the PCC car until I heard the "twang" of the trolley pole on the wire and found it only 25 feet away from the stop. Absolutely silent and smooth as silk. Out on the open track beside Forest park they would get up to what seemed like 50 mph. Maybe not that fast, but they really moved. The brakes, BTW, were a large electro magnet that fitted between the wheels and grabbed the railhead when stopping. Philly picklesPhiladelphia had the very same streetcars, painted green. As a child I called them pickles, because that is what they most looked like. Sometimes the connection to the overhead wires would break and the driver would walk out with a long pole and put it back on to get the car going again. They were running well into the 1980's. I never got to ride in one. I only saw them from the windows of the family car. Buses may be more cost-efficientBut who ever heard of a bus named Desire? Wow, Nice Shot!So nice to see a streetcar cruising past the Washington Monument - hope they succeed in reintroducing them here, whether they be powered by underground conduits, or overhead wires. Also, very, very nice to see the Washington Monument unencumbered by that ridiculous security hut at the base, which ruins the proportions and mars the simplicity of the great obelisk. DesireSad but true, I have seen the bus named Desire. It ain't pretty. These still run in PhiladelphiaThe No. 15 trolley still runs along Girard Avenue to the zoo. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Streetcars)
Ghost Ship: 1916
... of World War I, being towed from the Norfolk yards to Philadelphia. During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New ... the war, the sailors (who, after their ship was sent to Philadelphia, remained at Norfolk in a "German village" they constructed that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 7:09pm -

September 1916. "Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in U.S. in tow." The former passenger liner, pressed into service as a commerce raider by the Imperial German Navy at the start of World War I, being towed from the Norfolk yards to Philadelphia. During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New York Harbor with 2,000 tons of coal -- the converted 15,000-ton cruiser sank more than a dozen Allied ships and took hundreds of prisoners. Running low on supplies, its crew and prisoners beset by a variety of illnesses, the battered vessel sought refuge in April 1915 at Newport News, where its sailors were interned for over a year. After the United States entered the war, the ship was seized by the government, rechristened the USS Von Steuben and converted into a troop carrier. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Wilhelm's GunsIt would be interesting to know what kind of armament this ship carried as a "raider." It certainly looks innocent enough from this view. What a great story this would make for a period-piece motion picture! [Exactly what I was thinking. The Wilhelm led quite a dramatic life. The ship seems to have been lightly armed. Wikipedia says two 88mm guns, one machine gun and two 120 mm guns. And of course a lot of small arms. Attacking mostly unarmed and much slower merchant ships, it didn't need much in the way of guns. It was basically a modern-day pirate ship that sailed around under the British flag. It would hail an Allied ship, steam alongside and then raise the German flag instead of the skull and crossbones, send a boarding party, take prisoners, scuttle the enemy ship and be on its way. - Dave] SailsVery interesting. Even though it is obviously a coal powered ship it has masts and rigging indicating that it could also be sailed under wind power. [That "rigging" might be antennas for the ship's wireless. Experts? - Dave] Rusty!Wow, what a rustbucket. The MastsI believe the masts and rigging are cranes used to lift cargo out of the ship's holds. No SailsNo sails on that ship. The rigging lines visible in the photo are heavy stays to support the masts for the lookout (crow's nest), for cargo handling when a boom is slung, and for the ship's wireless. The antennas would run fore/aft between the masts, but they were much thinner wires and don't show in the photo. The Q-ShipSpot on... Like you said, a Raider (or Q-ship on our side) depended on spoofing by fooling the warships and preying on the unarmed (or lightly armed) merchants and so did not need heavy arms. Some cut away portions of the gunwale and covered with painted canvas (or other material) sections that could drop away to expose the guns. I met an old man that was a victim of some German raider during WWII off the west coast of Africa. He was on a sailing merchant ship when they were captured, put adrift on a lifeboat, and witnessed the scuttling of their ship. They were a week at sea before landing at some fishing village in Africa and made their way back to a port and in time back to the USA where he continued in the merchant marine through the remainder of the war. Wait a minute: Timeline?So the picture is from Sept 1916, and the ship is (still?) completely messed up. In April 1915 the battered ship had sought refuge; sailors interned for over year; and then sent home sometime in 1916? (US enters the war in April 1917.) Is one of these dates incorrect? [The dates are all correct. After the United States entered the war, the sailors (who, after their ship was sent to Philadelphia, remained at Norfolk in a "German village" they constructed that became a popular tourist attraction) became prisoners of war and were sent to POW camps in Georgia. - Dave] Wartime shortagesI've read in many accounts that things became quite hard in the States when they finally entered the Great War, and that there were many shortages in raw materials and goods and services due to the conversion to a wartime economy. But interestingly enough, even though there was a very important use of American infrastructure to turn out war materiel, there was not a complete production reconversion as in WWII. Many car companies, for example, did reduce their output and produce trucks and ambulances for the armed forces, but they nevertheless were still able to produce (and sell) cars to the civilians. This photo is very interesting, because it shows the importance of these huge and heavy pieces of manufactured equipment in the war effort of any economy. Ships were still the main way to carry large amounts of supplies and soldiers across the Atlantic, and yet they were of strategic importance to any country involved in the war effort. Being a pirate ship under an enemy flag, and considering the cost and time it would take to build an equivalent ship in war conditions, it is evident why the government commissioned this ship to serve under the U.S. flag. I just can't help wondering; of course I know the States had an active shipbuilding industry back then, but, did they build special-purpose ships during the first World War, like they did with the famous Liberty Ship of the 1940's? Where, how, how many ships they built? And what happened to the many converted steamboats that were used for transporting troops during the war? Were they returned to their owners? Did any of them resume civilian passenger service after the war? Like is always the case with Shorpy, a very interesting and educational photo, worth a lot of research. Thanks for sharing! Armed Merchant CruisersKronprinz Wilhelm, like most fast passenger liners including British ships like the Lusitania, were designed (in their blueprints) to serve as armed merchant cruisers in the event of war. For example Lusitania had gun mounts on her port and starboard sides, although guns were never mounted. This was all part of a scheme in which the various governments could subsidize the construction of civilian liners with funds from their navies on the grounds that they could be used as warships. Their speed made them faster than just about anything else on the seas, but that speed meant burning a lot of coal, which was a problem for a country like Germany that couldn't send out regular supplies to its raiders. They also couldn't stand up to even an obsolete warship, as the Kronprinz Wilhelm's sister ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse found out when she went up against the aged HMS Highflyer. Later, more successful German raiders tended to be slower more nondescript merchant ships like Wolf II which sank 35 merchant ships and 2 warships in a 451 day cruise, or the sailing ship Seeadler, which sank 15 ships in a 225 day cruise. Additionally,..Halfway up the mast there's a crow's nest, which would have dated from the ship's use as a liner. Viewers of "Titanic" will remember the scene just prior to the collision with the two sailors in the same post. A WarshipI believe that Kronprinz Wilhelm's decrepit state is due to the fact that she was considered a warship, and under international law she couldn't be repaired or even maintained once she was interned. On the other hand, ships like the Imperator, which weren't converted to warships could be maintained by their crews, and could even sail back to Germany. The big problem for them was the blockade - at both ends of the trip. The Royal Navy and the dominion navies (the Royal Canadian and Royal Australian Navies) maintained a blockade of American ports. Their ships would lurk just outside the territorial limit waiting for German ships to try to make a run for it and then seize them. HMCS Niobe operated off New York until 1915 when she was declared "worn out" and HMCS Rainbow operated off Seattle. She even managed to capture a pair of German schooners that tried to escape that port. [The ship could have been fixed up before heading out to sea, but the captain chose to stay put. Below: New York Times. - Dave] World War I Emergency ShipbuildingThe answer to Miguel Chavez's question is yes (I'm tempted to write of course). There was a program to produce -- I'm not sure we can say mass produce in that period -- relatively simply designed cargo ships called Hog Islanders at a shipyard at that location (I think it might have been near Philadelphia). Also there was a crash program to produce concrete ships (they would be called ferrocement ships today), becasue steel was in such short supply. Rather surprisingly, they looked just like contemporary steel cargo ships. Also, shipyards in Maine swung into high gear to produce large numbers of wooden, mostly sail-powered schooners, although I don't think there was any Government program behind this, just private industry sensing a chance for a profit. The last of the concrete ships is partly visible above the water off Cape May Point, New Jersey, to this day. I believe these programs were almost complete failures. The innovative new designs, while they were economical of materials and labor to produce, didn't start hitting the water in numbers until the war was practically over. In addition, many of them had mechanical or reliability problems and were not successful in a functional sense, either. The Hog Islanders were the most effective at carrying cargo and many of them remained commercially viable until 1929, when the bottom fell out of the shipping market. A few of the Maine sailing ships remained viable till World War II. Possibly Mr. Kaiser and his associates studied this period's failures and that's how the Liberty ships were so successful. Passenger ships of that era.Those wires are cables for supporting the masts. In regards to captured German cruise ships, there were quite a few that had serious electrical problems. In some cases wiring inside the walls would short and cause fires inside the walls themselves. A few ships burned completely. The Kron Prinz Wilhelm from what I read was used by the US Navy until 1923 and scrapped. A shame. Ships of this era are works of art. Hard-used Navy shipsThe USS Santa Olivia was a civilian cargo ship taken over by the Navy as a troop ship. My grandmother's uncle was an officer on her. Below: the ship on completion in July 1918 and then probably in May 1919, when she looks like a rust bucket. I think they just ran the ships back and forth across the Atlantic constantly with no time to paint them. Coming to AmericaThis is the ship my great great grandfather came to America on! High-Difference CamouflageSome great photos of dazzle-painted ships here and here. Early camouflageI don't think that early camo schemes like dazzle were intended to deceive the viewer in the sense of not seeing the target but to confuse the outline to make identification more difficult. If a ship could be identified (or at least its class) then the apparent size of the image could make the range estimation much more accurate if looking though a periscope, and the size of the bow wave could improve the speed estimate, raising the probability of a hit. I have seen pictures of ships painted with a false bow wave so that its speed would be overestimated, resulting in a torpedo miss instead of a hit. Anything that reduced the probability of a hit was helpful. DazzlingI have no doubt that Dazzle Camouflage is (or rather was) effective in the days when visual sighting rather than radar or sonar was the principal means of identifying a target. The thing is though that for a modern viewer it is difficult to imagine how it could be. We see the images in monochrome and usually under ideal conditions - the ship is in port or stationary. But of course the paint jobs weren't all - or even usually - black and white and the ships that the U-Boat skippers saw were moving through seas at various states and weather conditions. I guess what I'm saying is that when we see black & white photos of ships in Dazzle Camouflage we aren't even getting part of the true effect. Dazzle CamouflageIf you've ever used a typical manual-focus 35mm camera, you might be able to picture one of the intended effects of "dazzle": making it hard to line up the linear elements in the split image of a rangefinder. Optical rangefinders, using two widely spaced lenses, were the principal method used in warships of this era to determine the distance between them and the target. In principle, you could see a dazzle-painted target plainly but still have difficulty hitting it with guns or torpedoes. Painting ShipLooking over the images on Shorpy's there aren't many times when I wish that a black & white photo were in colour, but some of these ship pictures are among them. The photos of the Santa Olivia are a huge contrast, but would she have looked as much like a rust bucket in the second photo in colour than she does in black & white. The paint work on the dazzle camouflage patterns in the first picture are so sharp and clear that you'd wonder that it deceived anyone. How much of the appearance of the "rust bucket" version of the ship is dirt and grime and rust, and how much is a more effective effort to deceive? I think Kronprinz Wilhelm was a rust bucket, almost certainly after almost a year of internment following her time as a raider. The Baron came to America - Twice.The ship's namesake is Baron (Crown Prince) Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. It's interesting to note the Germans used his title and first name(s) while the US used his title and last name. He was a Prussian trained command officer who met Benjamin Franklin in Paris just as the War for Independence was breaking out in America and volunteered to come to America to help the effort - he was looking for work to help alleviate his personal debt and had heard Benjamin Franklin was going to be in Paris and travelled to meet him. He was endorsed by the French government just as France was forming their alliance with the Americans. He volunteered at first to come (later he was paid) and assist the American war effort and was immediately dispatched to join the American forces. He arrived in the US shortly before the American government was being driven out of the capital in Philadelphia by the British and was present during the exodus. He met up with Continental Army General George Washington at Valley Forge during that cold winter and began his efforts at organizing and training the Army. It's from him that the US developed its concepts of military structure and training programs still in practice today, including command structure, elementary concepts of boot camp and right down to the "in your face" training methods of Drill Sergeants still in use today. He was one of the three Commanders in charge of one of the Divisions when General Cornwallis was trapped and forced to surrender at Yorktown, VA - effectively ending the War for Independence. Incredible photo! Named after the eldest son of Kaiser WilhelmKronprinz means Crown Prince, or heir to the throne. The German term usually translated as "Baron" is "Freiherr" and is the lowest title of German nobility. This ship would have certainly been named after the Crown Prince of Germany, Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Know as "Little Willie" by the allies, he served during WWI as commander of the German 5th Army until the battle of Verdun, and then in command of an Army Group until the end of the war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm,_German_Crown_Prince (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Harris + Ewing, WWI)
Official Philly: 1912
        At 548 feet, Philadelphia City Hall, completed in 1901 with its clock tower topped by a ... Penn, is the world's tallest masonry building. Philadelphia circa 1912. "Market Street west from Eleventh, with view of City ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/08/2017 - 11:45am -

        At 548 feet, Philadelphia City Hall, completed in 1901 with its clock tower topped by a statue of William Penn, is the world's tallest masonry building. Philadelphia circa 1912. "Market Street west from Eleventh, with view of City Hall." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Still the tallestAnd still the tallest unreinforced masonry tower in the world (there is no internal steel or concrete substructure.) The walls are over twenty feet thick at the base! http://mentalfloss.com/article/83196/11-facts-about-philadelphias-city-h... Taller than PennI lived in Philadelphia up until the late 80's. Prior to the completion of One Liberty Place there were no buildings taller than the statue of William Penn on the City Hall building. After One Liberty there were a score of other ugly monoliths that began to pop up blocking the view of City Hall. So much for a gentlemen's agreement... twirly dollopI want to know what this is, but I couldn't find the clickable Google Street View arrow in the center of the street that would have allowed me to stroll virtually down there to take a look. +101Below is the same view from October of 2013. (A similar view was previously featured on Shorpy https://www.shorpy.com/node/19725.) City Hall PensA. Pomerantz ran one of the largest stationery and printing shops in Philadelphia at that time. This is a box of the steel dip pen nibs produced for them. The box dates to pre-1909 when they moved to 34-36 South 15th, just around the corner and to the left of the courthouse, from the perspective of the photographer. The box may well date from not long after the courthouse was built as Pomerantz was in business from 1897. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Philadelphia, Streetcars)
Queens of the Radio: 1925
... room, 1925." Another view of the Atwater Kent factory in Philadelphia. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass ... babe! (Technology, The Gallery, Factories, Natl Photo, Philadelphia) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:05pm -

"Radio set assembling room, 1925." Another view of the Atwater Kent factory in Philadelphia. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. Just like my house.So, why are all the women busy while almost all of the men are doing nothing but standing around and watching? Working Girls. But Not the Guys.I'm a dude myself and couldn't help notice. Geez, gents - at least look busy! Fifth in lineThere is at least one busy guy working the assembly line. Fifth person on the right. And I love the look the girl is giving the camera (fourth in line on the left). Talk RadioSimple. The men are done already with what they need to do and are waiting for the women to catch up. Maybe if they would stop talking so much they could get done too. Radio GirlsLooks like one of the ladies in the foreground knows the photographer. We've come a long way...Did anyone notice there's not a fat person in the picture. I bet the percentage of fat Americans was considerably smaller back then. SpookySpooky if you think that every one of those people is now dead.... Smirking galThat gal is a go-getter. They called her 'ol two at a time Tula Everyone Look BusyAlmost everyone held still for the picture, the girls just did a better job of looking busy. The actual busy folks are the men in the far back who did not bother to stop and left a blur of motion as a testament. Arthur Atwater KentWhat a great photo. Awater Kent closed the plants and shut down the company when his workers tried to unionize in 1936 (and after a decline in sales of high-end radios). He quit the business, moved to California and lived out his days. Fascinating story and interesting radios. I think this (1925) photo was just around the time they switched from making 'breadboard' radios, where everything was laid out on a board and operated by batteries (yup, 90v batteries). After about 1925, they discovered that homemakers often didn't want to dust tubes and open bits of radios, and he started building enclosed cabinets. I think the company that made the cabinets is still in business making furniture. Mike Y Dallas, Texas [He also made millions off his patents for automobile ignitions, which is how he got his start. - Dave] Atwater KentI wish I'd had this photo when I was a radio-electronics-obsessed little girl in the 1950's and my 1920's-educated dad kept telling me that radio assembly was a boy's hobby. Penny Spooky 2I have this same though about many of the photos on Shorpy. What would these people think if you could have told them that thousands of people would be looking at their face on something called a "computer" over 80 years in the future. In this case, it is somewhat possible (although very unlikely) that one or two of these people are still around. Flapper BobsI love how so many of the girls have the flapper style haircut, now most often associated with Louise Brooks. It's funny how the changing styles of coiffure always date a photo, much as the cars do when they are visible. This one screams "mid-1920s." (But that fourth girl on the left did have something special going on.) I was looking at a 1978 High School yearbook yesterday and every girl had the same Farrah Fawcett 'do. Atwater KentMy family had an Atwater Kent. I was told it was one of the first radios in the state. The model we had was made in 1921 though. You could have killed somebody with the metal horn speaker it had. Atwater KentI really like Atwater Kent radios. Have repaired quite a few since 1990. A good hobby. Atwater Kent 20CThese are Model 20C compact radios. Assembled faceplates are on the shelf behind them. The set used the two individual sockets plus the 3 socket island and a large round rheostat. They are attaching components to the metal faceplates with brass bolts. After this, someone would solder the wiring on. Fourth GirlThat fourth girl on the left is hot! Yeah, if she's still alive she'd be over 100. And, at my age, when this picture was taken, I'm old enough to be her father... But, jeez louise, she's hot. I wonder if she was the photographer's girlfriend. That's certainly a familiar look on her face. What a babe! (Technology, The Gallery, Factories, Natl Photo, Philadelphia)
Miss Winship: 1909
... 31st Street N.W., where she and Alexander L. Crawford of Philadelphia were married in April 1909. - Dave] Corsets I know ... to Alexander L. Crawford, of 4033 Spruce street, Philadelphia. The ceremony was performed at noon, Wilson Woelpper, of Philadelphia, a brother-in-law of the bride, acting as best man. The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/07/2012 - 11:04am -

"Miss E.G. Winship." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. I Think I'll Call HerMiss Winsome. Any more at home like you, sweetie? Wolf WhistleAt least no dog comments coming on this one! Wow, she's cute. A real CharmerThis stunning young lady is perfectly coifed and corseted, certainly ready to be presented to society if, indeed, she has not already been. Her gorgeous dress, her lively expression, her relaxed pose -- they take my breath away. I would kill for that dress -- and the figure to slide into it. Sigh..... ImmaculateHow on earth did they clean gowns like this? Winship = WinsletCan you imagine giving up your seat in the lifeboat for the lovely Miss Winship? I can. TeenagersAnd this self-possessed, poised, and lovely young woman is perhaps all of 18 or 19 years old. Teens have changed! OutstandingI can imagine gunbattles erupting and wars being fought over a woman like this. Not that greatStubby fingers. "Might I have the honour of the next dance, miss?"Wow, this is the photographic equivalent of an oil portrait by John Singer Sargent, no less! If ever you want to know what people mean when they say ladies used to have "deportment," then look no further than this marvellous picture! (Had a look at Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org just now and came up with a Edna G. Winship of Chicago, born 15 Jan. 1890, died Chicago May 1982. This must be her in the photo as the ages fit date-wise - i.e. 18 going on 19 in 1909.) [This is Washington, D.C., and Miss Edith Winship. She lived at 1688 31st Street N.W., where she and Alexander L. Crawford of Philadelphia were married in April 1909. - Dave] CorsetsI know corsets must have been horrible to wear (especially in the summer--I can't even imagine!), but I have to admit--even Spanx cannot do this. There was a reason that the corset endured for so long! Edith WinshipEdith G. Winship, the daughter of Henry C Winship (not John as reported in following article) was born Dec 1887 (source: 1900 census). Henry C. Winship, a native of Washington, and prominent coal dealer, died in 1903. Miss Edith Winship, daughter of the late John Winship, was married Wednesday afternoon at her home, 1688 Thirty-first street, northwest, to Alexander L. Crawford, of 4033 Spruce street, Philadelphia. The ceremony was performed at noon, Wilson Woelpper, of Philadelphia, a brother-in-law of the bride, acting as best man. The bridesmaids were Margaret Winship, the bride's sister; Miss Easterday, of this city, and Miss Frishmuth of Philadelphia. The honeymoon will be spent at Old Point Comfort, and Mr. and Mrs. Crawford will make their home temporarily at the Bellevue-Stragford, in Philadelphia. Miss Winship became acquainted with Mr. Crawford last summer in Gloucester, Mass. Mr. Crawford is 23 years old, and is the youngest member of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. He is a graduate of the university of Pennsylvania and a member of the firm George D. Atlee Co., stock brokers of Philadelphia. Washington Post, Apr 9, 1909 If the happy,If the happy, stubby-fingered couple maintained their "temporary" residence at the Bellevue-Statford Hotel for 67 years, they might have fallen prey to the Legionnaire's Disease that made that hotel infamous. A near missusBy the time Alex unwrapped his bride from her corseted layers, the honeymoon may have been over. E and FMiss Easterday and Miss Frishmuth -- like something out of "Life With Father." Those really were the days. Rembrandt lightingThe lighting is true Rembrandt lighting. The key light (or main light) is on her left. The darker side of her face has a triangle below the eye. This is true Rembrandt lighting. Catchlights in the eyes give her life. Beautiful model and great job with the camera of the day. [Harris & Ewing also created pseudo-highlights by scratching the emulsion with a pen nib or wire, which gave a stippled effect. Click below to enlarge. - Dave] Satin and laceI'm envisioning this gown in coral, seafoam green or soft gold. It must have been exquisite, no matter what color. Teens and TimesAlthough Miss Winship is approximately 22 here, this is close enough for my 17 years to be of some relevance. It seems to me that teens have changed less than the times; styles are simply not as elegant and ostentatious. (Some might say pretentious.) There is less emphasis today on being a knockout every day at school. (Plus the amount of time we tend have to get ready in the morning is très courte.) Teens still do dress to impress, but no longer in this manner for the most part. (Prom is the closest we get.) I myself, however, am a slightly different story. Some people can still pull off a silk top hat with their tux. A properly fitted corset......can be quite comfortable. I wear them occasionally for the stage, and I have to say they're FAR less painful than a daily hour at the gym! Don't kid yourself, kid.Teen styles of today are just as pretentious as those of 1910 - and those of my teen years, as well. Re: Teens and TimesTeens probably have changed very little at a basic level--I'm sure they've always been somewhat self-absorbed and certain of their infallibility. But I'd say the parenting of them has changed a lot, and not for the better, which results in a big difference in how they behave and present themselves. (A fact which many of the older posters on here sometimes forget when lamenting the horribleness of today's youth. Depending on their age, either they or their children are the ones who dropped the parenting ball!) I'd agree somewhat with the clothing situation though. Modern teenage girls just spend more time figuring out how to strategically reveal skin and putting on ten pounds of eyeliner rather than dressing in corsets and layers of silk. Teenage girls will probably always be preoccupied with their appearance -- comes with the territory! At last a voice of reason...Thank you Catherine!!! At last a person that realizes that today youth are a product of how they were raised. It's a cycle of learned behaviors, this generation learned how to act by watching the adults of the nineties just like the adults of the nineties learned how to act watching the adults of the eighties and so on and so forth. The youth of today didn't just get rained down from the heavens wild and out of control...they were raised that way. It's amusing to be described as "wild and out of control". There are certainly some in my generation who can be described that way, but then again, there are in every generation. On the question of a change in parenting, however, I agree wholeheartedly. There is a gigantic (tremendous, humongous) difference between the way my grandfather and I were raised. He walked in the front door of high school and out the back (Right into the CCC) and I have spent the last four years slaving away to get into college. (Where I will undoubtedly work another four years to get into graduate school) Mrs. Crawford's FashionAll the comments about teen fashions and teen culture are thoughtful and perceptive. Yet I'm moved to wonder if there was such a thing as teen fashion or culture in 1909, and kinda think not. The notion of a separate youth culture with its own fashions didn't much enter the popular American imagination until the college crazes of the 1920s. It appears that this carefully retouched society portrait of Miss Winship was meant to illustrate her impending wedding to stock broker Alexander Crawford, and her stunning gown, glittering with crystal beads and seed pearls, was very much expressing the prevailing fashion tastes of wealthy adults. Not Just RetouchingThe photographer also (presumably) defocused for a more flattering "soft" effect on the young lady's face. Notice how razor-sharp the focus is on the nearer portions of her gown? She's liberated!Yes, she is well corseted in stays, probably quite long and tight. However, in 1909 they thought the current fashions were liberated from the Victorian (V died in 1901) wasp waist. Her mother would have been several inches smaller at this age, say 20 years earlier in 1889. Yes she is liberated by her standards. Just because we find the corsets tight and stiff (actually they are ok if you think yourself into the character, I've done it in theater), we should not judge history by our standards. Quite liberatedIt appears that the torso and lower reaches of the dress are silk satin, possibly a charmeuse, and the middle area appears to be a cotton batiste. Elegant, but apparently summer weight, perfect for a wedding. The lines are also much simpler than prevailed 20 years earlier, with far less lace and such. (The Gallery, Harris + Ewing, Portraits)
Beer, Blood and Bones: 1917
... large Carry family. Their families lived in an area called Philadelphia Row, which I guess was 12th and B, C or D Streets S.E. Louise ... discovery for me, growing up in Brookland. Thanks. Philadelphia Row Philadelphia Row is in the 100 block (between A St. & ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 7:29am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "National Capital Brewery." The National Capital Brewing Co. plant at 14th and D Streets S.E. The company, which owned a number bars in downtown Washington, switched to making Carry's Ice Cream with the onset of Prohibition. The brewery's boiler room furnace figured in a sensational murder case in 1912. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Popcorn's ready!Let's have the nitty grtitty details of the murder! I'll get the lightsYeah, I'd be interested in that info as well. Sounds intriguing. All goneIf the address is accurate, these structures are long gone. That area is mostly residential working-class now. A Relative CommentThat explains it!! Now I know why Beer, Ice Cream & Murder Mysteries are such favorites of mine! I am a great-great-granddaughter of Albert Carry. Thanks for the picture and history from my paternal relatives. [You're very welcome! Glad you found us. - Dave] Charred Bones, Bloodstain Near BoilersOctober 2, 1912. Gives a new meaning to "You're fired!" A Big Brewing EstablishmentWashington Evening Star. July 25, 1891 A BIG BREWING ESTABLISHMENT NATIONAL CAPITAL BREWERY A Business Enterprise That Has Been Very Successful in Washington IT IS A HOME PRODUCT ENTIRELY ORGANIZED AND OFFICERED BY LOCAL MEN AND EVERY SHARE OF ITS STOCK OWNED HERE A TRIP THROUGH ITS EXTENSIVE BUILDINGS. A brewery that turns out 100,000 barrels of first-class pure beer every year for local consumption solely is a big institution for any city, and yet Washington has recently had just such an addition made to its business enterprises in the National Capital Brewery. Organized by Washington men, officered by Washington men, and with every share of its stock owned here at home, it would seem to be a local enterprise first last and all the time. This business is the result of the combination of two of the oldest and most successful breweries in this part of the country, and that the new firm will be even more successful is a foregone conclusion. People who have had occasion recently to traverse D street southeast have noticed a splendid new building on the south side of the street between 13th and 14th streets. This is the new home of the National Capital Brewing Company, and it is by long odds one of the most substantial and imposing buildings of the sort to be found anywhere. Although it has been completed hardly more than a month, it has about it already that well-kept appearance and air of bustling activity that always denote prosperity following upon enterprise. This fine new building, standing as it does in a very desirable location for such a business, with almost an entire block of ground about it, is a five-story structure of brick with handsome stone trimmings and surrounded by a graceful cupola. It covers a plot of ground 94 by 136 feet, and owing to the unusual height of the several stories the building itself is quite as high as an ordinary seven or eight-story building. Attached to the main building are several roomy and substantial outbuildings, including an engine house, stable and cooperage shop, all pleasing in appearance and forming a handsome group. To make a good pure quality of beer for local use so that it can be drawn from wood and not adulterated with any chemical whatsoever in order to make of it a "beer that keeps well," this is the purpose of the National Capital Brewing Company. They do not make beer for shipment, and hence their beer is not treated with any salicylic acid or deleterious substances that are sometimes used with bottled beer to keep it clear and lively. Pure beer is generally considered a healthful drink. The president of the National Capital Brewing Company told a STAR reporter that any person with a proper interest in the matter might take the keys of the entire establishment at any time, go through it thoroughly, and if he found anything at all used in the making of their beer that was not pure and wholesome the company would give him $1,000. Beer drawn from the wood is almost certain to be a purer and better quality of beer than the bottled. The National Capital Brewing Company does not bottle. It serves its customers fresh every day with beer that has reached its prime in the immense cooling rooms of the brewery. F. H. Finley & Son, the bottlers, however, have a contract with the company for 20,000 barrels a year of their pale extra beer, and this they bottle and serve to customers in Washington. They get their beer early every morning, as needed, so that people who buy the bottled variety of the National Capital Company's beer are using beer that left the huge casks at the brewery that very day. J. F. Hermann & Son, Wm. H Brinkley and Jas. A Bailey also acts as agent for the company. A STAR reporter, accompanied by Mr. Albert Carry, president of the brewing company, recently made a complete inspection of the buildings of the brewery, spending several hours seeing how beer is manufactured from the time it comes in in the form of malt and the raw materials until it leaves the building a clear, cool, foaming beverage inclosed in stout kegs and casks. How much beer there is that leaves the building may be judged when the statement is made that the company uses 10,000 kegs and barrels of all sizes simply in supplying the Washington trade. Nine huge wagons and thirty big horses are used steadily in carrying beer from the brewery to the consumers. In truth this is no small business. But what strikes the visitor, be he a casual or an interested one, first and most forcibly of all is the absolute cleanliness and neatness that prevails everywhere. The walls and stairways, for the most part of stone and iron - for the building is fireproof throughout - and the floors are all of iron or concrete and immaculate. On all sides there is hot and cold running water, and indeed the wards of a hospital could scarcely be cleaner or more orderly than the various departments of this brewery. There are no secret chambers into which one may not go. Everything is open and above board, and the fact that the company has no objections to the beer consumer examining every branch of its manufacture is a pretty good sign that they know that everything is honest and fair. As a proof of this the company intends giving a public tour Tuesday, July 28, from 8 to 8 p.m., when everything will be in running order and everybody is invited to visit the brewery and inspect it thoroughly from cellar to roof. A handsome luncheon, consisting of all the delicacies of the season, will be spread. Everything will be free, and the National Capital Brewing Company intend to prove that they are as liberal in their hospitality as they are enterprising in their business. It is needless to say that beer will be plentiful and none need to go to bed thirsty Tuesday night. Connecting the main building with the engine house is a handsome arched gateway leading into the big court yard, where the wagons stand while they are being loaded. The entrance to the offices is through this gateway. The offices consist of a number of connecting rooms on the main floor in the northwest corner of the building. They are handsomely finished in oak, and are fitted with the most improved office furniture for the convenience of the officers of the company and the corps of bookkeepers and clerks required to transact such an immense volume of business. Opening from the main office and adjoining it is the ice machine room, containing an ice machine with a refrigerating capacity of fifty tons and an eighty-horse-power steam engine, used for grinding and mashing malt and for general hoisting purposes. The ice machine on that hot summer day was almost covered in with ice and snow, and in fact the temperature of the larger part of the brewery is kept down in the neighborhood of freezing point all the time. On the second floor is an immense refrigerating room, and separated from it by an iron door is a room for cleaning and automatically weighing malt, and arranged on the principle of a grain elevator is a store room for malt with a capacity of 20,000 tons. On the third floor is a great copper kettle holding 300 barrels of new boiling beer. The fourth floor is used for hot and cold water tanks and above is a tank for fire purposes. After boiling in the kettle for seven hours the beer is pumped up, strained and left to cool in a big tank under the roof, where a cool current of air blows constantly. To the rear and on the fourth floor is a big store room and a patent cooler. The beer from the tanks above runs down over coils and is cooled to 40 degrees. This and the rooms below are all 76x94 feet and feel like a cold day in midwinter. On the floor below is the fermenting room, and here the beer stays for two weeks in sixty-five tubs, each holding seventy barrels. After the beer is through fermenting it is piped down below into huge vats, each of a 240-barrel capacity, and here it stays in the rest casks for three or four months, beer four months old being about the best. On the floor below a little new beer is added to give the necessary foam, and after being given about three weeks to clarify it is sent by air pressure into the filling room, where it is run into barrels and kegs ready to be loaded onto the wagons. In neighboring rooms a dozen men are busy all the time cleaning, washing and scouring the kegs so there is no chance for any impurities to mar the flavor of the Golden Eagle and the Capuciner beers. The National Capital Brewery Company is a combination of the firms of Albert Carry, Robert Portner and the Robert Portner Brewing Company, the latter selling out the Washington branch of the business. The capital stock of the company is $500,000, all paid up. The company has been in operation since last November [1890], but has been supplying from its new brewery only since June. The officers of the company are as follows: Albert Carry, president; C. A. Strangmann, secretary and treasurer. Directors: Albert Carry, Robert Portner, John L. Vogt, John D. Bartlett, Charles Carry, C. A. Strangmann, Frank P.Madigan. Brewery AngleThis seems like an odd angle for a photo. Consulting the Baist Realty maps suggests that it was taken looking to the northeast from the top of the Buchanan Public School on E Street. The houses in the foreground are indicated by the small yellow homes on the alley (now Guetlet Court). The Buchanan school still survives as well as a few of the houses at the SE corner of the block. For comparison, today's satellite view is here. Where the brewery stood is now a Safeway. Thanks Stanton!I found a lecture about the Carry and Didden families, where George Didden cites the lot as "bounded by 13th Street, D Street, Kentucky Avenue and South Carolina Avenue." George should have consulted the Baist Realty map! The Ideal Spring TonicWashington Post, March 3, 1910 Too closeRegarding the upscale houses in the foreground: is that a garden right next to the outhouse? Mystery of the Brewery Brewery Mystery Involves Suicide and Disappearance. New Clew For Police. Confronted by a mystery involving the disappearance on September 17 of Arthur A. Webster, and the suicide on Sunday of Lennte L. Jette, the latter a former employee of the National Capital Brewing Company, and the former and habitue of the same place, the police last night were bending every effort to determine the facts in what they term a most extraordinary case. Webster, on the evening of his disappearance, told his wife he was going to the brewery, where Jett was employed as a fireman. That he did enter the brewery, and that there ensued a passage of words between him and Jett, is attested by a police witness. From that evening, until the present time nothing has been heard from Webster. His wife is firm in her conviction that he was murdered. Jett, on Sunday night, sent a bullet into his brain and died a suicide. The police, consequently, are seeking now to fathom the "mystery of the brewery." It is singular, the police reason, that one man, visiting the brewery, and following an alleged altercation, should suddenly vanish, and that within two weeks the other principal should suddenly and his life. A statement by an important witness, made yesterday to Capt. Mulhall at the Fifth precinct, following a succession of other unusual happenings at the brewery since Webster dropped out of sight, has, in the opinion of the relatives and others, gone a long way toward showing that he met with foul play. The witness is Michael J. Barrett, of 355 H street southwest, a helper in the boiler room at the brewery, who was on duty there the night of September 17, when Webster went there the last time. Their suspicions already aroused by Sunday's developments, the Fifth precinct police began their investigation all over again yesterday. Patrolman Kenney, whose post takes in the brewery, found Barrett at his home, and escorted him to the station to tell what he knew. Barrett no longer hesitated to talk freely about the events of Webster's last night in the boiler room. Last night he told a Post reporter what he had told Capt. Mulhall. "I will tell you just what I told the police," said he. "Webster had been coming to the brewery at night a long time. There was one man in the boiler room, Jett, who, I understood, did not like him. I knew this, and that, Tuesday morning about 2:30, when Webster came along, Jett was right there with me. Webster stopped in the doorway, as if waiting for an invitation to come in. I did not ask him in. But very soon Webster came on in uninvited, and when he got to me I said to him: 'You had better be careful. You know Jett does not think a whole lot of you.' Our men shift around from day to night duty, and a large part of the time Jett was not around after midnight, when Webster was in the habit of calling. "I noticed that Webster had been drinking. When he got to the rear of the room he drew a flask of whisky from a pocket and invited Jett and me to have a drink. We accepted, and I went back to my work. I was raking the ashes out of the furnace. Presently Webster and Jett disappeared from sight just around the corner of the end boiler. Soon I heard Webster say in loud tones something about an old quarrel between the two of them, and before long I heard more loud words. I could not catch all that was said for the occasional roaring of the furnaces. "The talking suddenly stopped, and Jett came from behind the boilers. About 15 or 20 minutes afterward I walked back behind the end boiler, and to my surprise found Webster either lying down or sitting on something very low behind No. 6. That is the number of the end boiler. I finally concluded that that drink I had had with him had knocked him out. I went back to work, at at 4 o'clock got ready to quit. I was relieved at that hour. Before leaving I said to Jett: 'Webster is lying back of No. 6.' Jett said nothing. Nor did I say any more to him." Tells of the Old Row. Asked who else was in the boiler room from 4 o'clock on, Barrett replied that there may not have been anybody there between 4 and 8 o'clock. "The watchman made his last round at 3 o'clock," said he. "The engineer sometimes drops in once or twice in those four hours, but he is not obliged to, and seldom does. He drops in oftener early in the night." Regarding the old quarrel between the two, Barrett said, "that occurred last spring in the street right in front of this brewery. Webster knocked Jett down with one blow of his fist. That was all there was to that, but it is well known about here that Jett never forgave nor forgot it, although he subsequently shook hands with Webster at Chesapeake Beach." The Wednesday after Webster disappeared, Barrett also dropped out of sight, but was found at his home. He reported that he was sick with chills and fever, and did not report for duty again until yesterday afternoon. De said the occurrences of Webster's last night at the brewery had absolutely nothing whatever to do with his absenting himself from work. On Sunday night, Jett committed suicide at his home, 627 Florence street northwest. He had left no note showing why he had planned to kill himself, but his family still suppose that he did so because he had been discharged from his employment. It was stated that the brewery that he was dismissed because on last Saturday afternoon he refused to work after quitting hour until another fireman came in to relieve him. Barrett's statement to Capt. Mulhall was more or less involuntary, and is generally credited. While officials of the brewery all ridicule the idea that the missing man was cremated in the furnace there, none denies that it could have occurred. The fires are never banked there except on Saturday night. All hours of the day and night, and particularly on toward 5 a.m., the hour for beginning of the day's work, the fires are kept raging. The boilers generally carry about 125 pounds of steam. They held that much last night as early as 9 o'clock, and more towards morning. Officials admitted that a human body might have been crammed into any one of the six furnaces by a strong man, and entirely cremated between 4 o'clock that morning, when Barrett left, and 8. The ashes of the dead would have been so mingled with the coal ashes that the difference could not have been detected by an ordinary process. The ashes of this brewery are all dumped on a lot only a few squares from the place. They are carried out every day, so that if Webster's is among them they are probably buried so deep that they can never be found. For all this, Webster may still be alive. Some time ago he spoke to his wife of quitting his work here and going to St. Louis, Mo., to accept a position his brother had promised to get him. It is certain that he had about $40 the morning he disappeared, and a few friends still cling to the hope that he availed of that opportunity to go there. His wife and mother both sent special delivery letters to his brother a few days after he went away, requesting him to let them know if Arthur appeared there. Neither has yet received a reply. Some of the men about the brewery also inclined to the belief that Webster went West. Joseph C. Carry, who was in charge of the brewery last night, invited the reporter to go through the place and talk with whomever he pleased about the case, and seemed anxious to see the mystery cleared up. The police say that Barrett's statement, though apparently truthful in every detail, is almost unsusceptible of proof. He alone, they say, really knows anything that bears directly on the point. Washington Post, Oct 1, 1912 The following day's newspaper contained an even longer article about the event, which by then was no longer a mystery. Two essential 'clews' had been developed: 1) blood stains on the bricks near the boiler, and 2) bone and tooth fragments raked from the ash pit at the brewery. Still unanswered in my mind, is why Webster frequented the brewery so late at night. It would seem he was simply a troublesome drunkard looking to get out of the house. Jett, on the other hand, was described as a quiet, friendly fellow. His friends report drastically altered behavior in the two weeks between the murder and his suicide - he was clearly very disturbed by the action that Webster provoked in him. After this tragedy, Albert Carry announced that the brewery would no longer be open for people to drop in and visit during the night. Navy Yard BreweryI live on E Street and recently discovered that this brewery used to be the Navy Yard Brewery owned by John Guethler as per this 1884 map. Brewhouse DesignBelow is a cross-section of a typical brewery of the era. The height of the brewery was dictated by the desire to harness gravity to do as much work as possible moving the liquids around. Although the plant did have a refrigeration unit, this was probably in one of the out-buildings, perhaps close to the smokestack since large steam engines would have powered the refrigeration. Considering the design below, the open windows at the peak of brewery would have been at the top of the stockhouse where the Baudelot cooler (or its equivalent) was located. This unit cooled the hot beer wort in preparation for fermentation. I imagine it was all a very aromatic operation. (click on diagram for larger version) National Capital Brewing CoMore here at pp. 108-112. New CarryAt least this solves the mystery of the "New Carry" at the theatre many slides ago, it was ice cream. [That was Carrie, not Carry. - Dave] I would have gotten away with it, too......if it hadn't been for those meddling kids and their talking Clydesdale! Antisocial SafewayI live two blocks from there. The Safeway where the brewery stood is among the worst grocery stores I have ever shopped at. But now this is no surprise. Clearly it's haunted and that's why the dairy products go sour by the time you get them home. Brewery AdJust curious about the source of that Brewery Ad. Washington Star? Thanks very much! [Washpost. - Dave] Grandmother and the CarrysMy grandmother Mildred Lithgow (1894-1990) used to tell of her best friend Louise Carry. Mildred was an only child and got along well with the large Carry family. Their families lived in an area called Philadelphia Row, which I guess was 12th and B, C or D Streets S.E. Louise would invite Mildred for outings to the Carrys' summer home in Suitland. The Carrys' groom would take them by carriage out Pennsylvania Avenue and stop and allow the horses a rest about half way up the hill. At their summer place, Red Gables, the kitchen had a large walk-in pantry with a beer tap. The children helped themselves to food and beer, as that was all there was to drink, and no one made a fuss. Mildred always fondly remembered the Carry family and the brewery and ice cream business. Hopefully some other stories will emerge. Shorpy has been a great discovery for me, growing up in Brookland. Thanks. Philadelphia RowPhiladelphia Row is in the 100 block (between A St. & Independence Ave.) of 11th street southeast, Washington D.C. The architectural style is patterned after the rowhouses of old Philadelphia. Charles Gefford built the row to comfort the homesickness of his wife for her native Philadelphia. Gefford teamed with builder Stephen Flanagan to construct the row of brick buildings in 1865-67. The potential destruction of Philadelphia Row during the freeway-building-craze of the 1960s is partly responsible for the formation of the Capitol Hill Historic District which has preserved much of the Victorian architecture of the neighborhood. View Larger Map The beer that built WashingtonAlbert Carry was my great-grandfather also; my grandmother was Louise ("Lou" or "Weesy") Carry, his youngest daughter. Capitol Hill was quite different at the turn of the last century, lots of green (in more ways than one), wonderful community teeming with work, new business, old businesses and people from all walks of life getting it done. My great-granddad ("Grospapa") came with coins in his pocket to help with the horses in a Cincinnati brewery and ended up the owner of one of the largest and most successful breweries in Washington, D.C. -- no inheritance, no handouts, just hard fair work for himself and those he hired. Many families along the Eastern Seaboard owe their start to Albert Carry, a German workaholic who knew a good product and appreciated those who helped him with the payback to become Americans. (The Gallery, D.C., Factories, Natl Photo)
BASE BALL TO-DAY: 1909
Philadelphia circa 1909. "Chestnut Street and Post Office." Neighbor to the Philadelphia Record building and its "electric score board" of baseball ... the AL. The day in baseball The other team Philadelphia at the time, of course, had two teams, so one wonders who got ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2022 - 10:43pm -

Philadelphia circa 1909. "Chestnut Street and Post Office." Neighbor to the Philadelphia Record building and its "electric score board" of baseball results. (Set up to show runs and innings in Roman numerals?!) 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size. 'Base Ball To-day' means it must be July 19, 1909This picture was taken around 9:40 AM on the morning of Monday July 19 1909. First of all, the time on the clock in the picture shows 9:40, which judging from the brightness of the sky would have to have been in the AM. Second, all of the final results for July 17 1909 are shown on the score board, meaning it would at least have to be the 18th. But the Phillies and Pirates had Sunday the 18th off, and did not play each other again until Monday the 19th. Finally, The sign on the front of the streetcar clearly states "Base Ball To-day," eliminating the 18th as a possibility, since they did not play on the 18th. Ipso facto it must be about 9:40 AM on July 19 1909. Game day! (Phils lost that one too by a 5-4 score) [At the very least, you seem to be off by five minutes. — Dave] Honus Wagner at shortThank you bwayne for the box score link. I thought that might be THE Wagner at SS for the Pirates, and it is. When they voted the first Hall of Fame inductees, he came in second, behind Cobb and ahead of Ruth. Went 0-4 on July 17 though. The game had 7 errors! Beaten to the Punchbwayne beat me to the answer of July 17, 1909, but here's the box score for that day: https://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=190907170... Of all the players that played that day, only one, William Joseph "Jap" Barbeau, played for his team only in 1909; he was traded to the Cardinals in August. ELECTRIC SCORE BOARD.Who can figure out the exact date of the photo from these scores? (Our choice of 1909 as the year here is only a guess.) Click to embiggen. Nice dig into 1909!July 17, 1909. One second before the collision ...It would appear that the coatless young fellow running toward the camera near the lower left of the frame is on a collision course with the older fellow striding purposefully leftwards toward the corner of the shot. One wonders if his attorney ever saw a print of this probative photo ... Rounding IInd & headed IV IIIrdWhile in a full sprint wearing a necktie, this agile office boy is successfully weaving through straw hats and avoided the man on crutches who, apparently is screaming for everyone to keep away. No doubt this go-getting lad is wearing hard sole shoes, which may very well have given him a blister for his effort. When he returns to his employer's office, he will probably be asked what took him so long. PB & HWhat at first appears to be a spelling error ("Pittsburg") on the baseball scoreboard, in fact, is not. In 1891, the United States Board on Geographic Names officially deleted the "h" from the end of Pittsburgh. The Board officially reinstated the "h" in 1911. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Pittsburgh Busy Street and BaseballA lot to see in this picture. But no automobiles. Almost everyone has a hat on. Boston had two baseball teams? I had to look it up. While the more famous American League Boston Red Sox have stayed steady, the National League Boston Doves at this time in 1909 had a history of much more name and location changes. Starting in 1876 to 1882 as the Boston Red Caps, then Beaneaters 1883 to 1906, then Doves 1907 to 1910, then Rustlers in 1911, then Braves 1912-1935, then the Bees 1936 to 1940, then Braves (again) from 1941 to 1952, the Milwaukee Braves 1953 to 1965, and finally the Atlanta Braves from 1966 to the present. Lost Record Buildinghttp://philaphilia.blogspot.com/2011/08/lost-building-of-week-august-3rd... Hold on to your hats, ladies!Looks like quite the blustery day, judging from the ladies at the lower right. Those Extra DigitsThe numbers to the left right of the team names reflect the final scores from the first game of the doubleheaders played that day between Brooklyn and the Cubs in the NL and the Athletics-Browns in the AL. The day in baseball The other teamPhiladelphia at the time, of course, had two teams, so one wonders who got possession of the Game Board; did they trade off based on who was home - or even away, as it looks like the Phillies were actually in Pittsburg - or was the "Record" a NL partisan (if so they got the demise they deserved!) Regardless, 1909 was a big year for baseball in Philly: The A's opened Shibe Park that year, the Major's first "modern" stadium. Scoreboard QuestionLooking at the scoreboard -- what are the numbers to the left of the first inning scores for the Athletics/St. Louis (0 & 2) and the Brooklyn/Chicago (1 & 0) games? They don't appear to be associated with close games that went into extra innings. I'm sure it must be something obvious but whatever it is I am missing it. Working from HomeAccording to that box score, the game was umpired single-handedly by Hall-of-Famer Bill Klem. If that's true, how long has it been since a Major League game was called by only one umpire? I've seen kids' league and high-school contests with one umpire, but not college or pro. In those, the ump positioned himself behind the pitcher's mound. But Wikipedia tells us that Klem worked exclusively behind home plate. If this is true, was he able to decide balls and strikes and all baserunning plays, plus all the business of running the game, from home plate? But base ball survives to this-dayvjmvjm's comment about the Lost Record Building made me wonder what this stretch of Chestnut Street looks like today. It looks very different. You're at the intersection of S 9th Street, looking west. Chestnut is, and maybe was, a one-way street coming towards you. Today, there are only two buildings on the north side of this block, a US courthouse and a Federal Reserve Bank. Nothing on either side of the street looks familiar until you get to the next intersection, S 10th. There, the white, Second Empire building with the rounded corner is the same as in the 1909 photograph. Read all about itThe sports page for July 20, 1909 ... https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1909-07-20/ed-1/seq-8... Jack ChesbroPer the sign, we can see that Jack Chesbro pitched for the New York Highlanders. Chesbro is still the record holder for the most wins in a season (41 in 1904), and the Highlanders -- who officially changed their name to the Yankees in 1913 -- are most famous for having the highest total of World Series victories of any team, at 27 (far ahead of second place St. Louis, who have 11). The Yanks and Cardinals may face each other this October. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Sports, Streetcars)
Valley Green: 1909
Philadelphia circa 1909. "Valley Green, Fairmount Park." Back in the day, less ... It's a lovely spot. Not to be missed on a visit to Philadelphia! Modern sign not there any more I'm old fashioned in my ... buried there for safekeeping while the British occupied Philadelphia. Suburb in the City: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 10:25pm -

Philadelphia circa 1909. "Valley Green, Fairmount Park." Back in the day, less green than gray. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. AhhhhThis is one of the most idyllic scenes I've ever seen here on Shorpy. I just want to go up and join those lovely ladies for a nice cup of tea. In Wissahickon Valley Park, nowAnd almost entirely unchanged: GemutlichkeitThe most fitting word for this cozy scene, would try to do a watercolour of this, but I don't have enough greens. PunctuationI noted some minor differences between the 1909 photo and the modern one posted by J W Wright, like the addition of more lighting on the front, and the change to the hanging sign, but one that's more subtle is the failure to repaint the period at the end of the lettering on the side of the building. A favorite spotMany of us go walking along Forbidden Drive with Valley Green as our destination. The stable beside the Inn was wrecked in the flooding of this summer's hurricane, but they are rebuilding it. Horses, bicycles and dogs all patiently wait while their humans sip lemonade on the porch or have a meal. Many's the wedding that is celebrated here. In face we came here with friends and family to celebrate our daughter's first communion. It's a lovely spot. Not to be missed on a visit to Philadelphia! Modern sign not there any moreI'm old fashioned in my thinking. To me, a Bell Telephone is a modern appliance. But, only the old photo has a sign advertising a Public Bell System Telephone! When I pass by there next, I'll report if the instrument (or even its modern push button replacement) is still in the premisses. I grew up very near to thisI grew up very near to this place and it is still there. In fact my wife and I are having our anniversary brunch there on Sunday 2-26. It's a beautiful area. Valley Green In(n) SnowIn Our History of the Valley Green Inn we may read that also this building narrowly escaped from being demolished, as so many builings, shown on Shorpy over the years. So-called Colonial Restoration The Wissahickon, 1922. Of all the inns and roadhouses, once numerous enough along the creek, only one still stands, offering temperate refreshment to travelers—Valley Green Inn. Tradition, which is not at all dependable, would make the inn at least 150 years old. For it is said Washington and Lafayette dined there one day on their way from the camp at Barren Hill to Germantown. Another story has it that a large quantity of wine sent from France to Franklin was buried there for safekeeping while the British occupied Philadelphia. Suburb in the City: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, 1850-1990, David Contosta, 1992. Given the interests of the Colonial Dames, a patriotic lineage society that had been founded in 1890 in order to honor the pre-Revolutionary ancestors of fellow members, it is not surprising that the were attracted by a series of myths about the Valley Green Inn. Although the structure then standing dated from about 1850, an apparently false local legend held that a pre-Revolutionary inn had stood on the site and that George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette had dined there during their retreat from Barren Hill to Valley Forge. The Dames proposed to remodel the inn "along original lines," but photographs of the 1850 structure show that they had no intention of doing an exact restoration of the midcentury building. Instead, the women and their architects decided to use their imaginations and to create what they thought a colonial inn should be. Like so much so-called colonial restoration of the day, the resultant Valley Green Inn was largely fantasy. Among its more charming but unauthentic features were leaded glass windows on the upper story, stylized picket gates, and built-in porch benches with large scrolled shoulder rests. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia)
Dock Street: 1908
"Dock Street, Philadelphia, circa 1908." Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Hot ... and much of this scene still exists along the stretch of Philadelphia's South 9th Street known as the Italian Market. The awning covered ... so. Up the creek This is an unusual street by Philadelphia standards, since it does not fit William Penn's original grid ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/26/2012 - 12:36pm -

"Dock Street, Philadelphia, circa 1908." Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Hot airThe slats on the awnings are louvers for ventilation. It looks like they have a canvas cover which can be pulled down over them, too. Stephen Washington DC Italian MarketTake away the horses and hats and much of this scene still exists along the stretch of Philadelphia's South 9th Street known as the Italian Market. The awning covered market stalls fronting 19th century brick buildings, it's all still there. Plus it is the center of the cheese steak universe. A bit can be seen here. Of course this picture was taken after color was discovered. Fascinating photoI am amazed at how many barrels can be put on one wagon. Does anyone know what the slats are on top of the awnings? Are they used to cover the windows? Dock Street TodayView Larger Map International BrotherhoodThe horse drawn vehicles, especially those with more than one horse, give meaning to the word Teamster as in International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The IBT represents truckers (among others), and even with its questionable past, has over 1 million members. Google Street View - It's ALL Gone, BabyThis is 116 Dock Street, about the same spot as the photo, looking in the same direction. View Larger Map Looks like a movie setI was trying to figure out why this looked like a movie set to me, then I realized it is because the curve of the street means that there are no long street vistas (which would be hard to replicate on a movie set). You could almost see a movie begin with this still shot in a grainy sepia, which would then come to life in color - all the teamsters working, horses neighing, men loading and unloading. The other thing is that it looks earlier than 1908 -- this area of Philly had not changed too much for 40 years or so. Up the creekThis is an unusual street by Philadelphia standards, since it does not fit William Penn's original grid plan. In Colonial times it was the site of a creek that in time was paved over, hence the unusual curve. The Eternal QuestionCurious visitors to the market, trying to peer around the bend in the street, were often heard to ask "What's up Dock?" Especially on days when the carrot farmers were in town. Explains the size of the market squaresI love how in Philadelphia you can sort of sniff out the old marketplaces. There's usually a big open space, and the streets come in at angles -- most of the city's large avenues come in at a 45 degree angle to the street grid. Those avenues become the "pikes" which led in and out of the city to the farm areas. Dock Street probably brought a lot more in off the ships, but wherever it came from, I can see that the markets needed a big area to allow the many wagons to turn around and head off on their deliveries. The movie it reminds me of is...Public Enemy, starring James Cagney. There's a scene set in 1908 where there are wooden kegs stored in a horse drawn cart just like that one on the left. Food DistributionThis was the main food distribution market in Philadelphia for nearly a century -- a wholesalers market close to the port, not a normal "retail" market like the famous Italian Market in S. Philly. It was destroyed in the 50s-60s urban renewal era when the city built a new food distribution center close to the new container port, near the present Phillies ballpark in S. Philly. Too bad, as it would have made an excellent Faneuil Hall-type of festival marketplace. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Stores & Markets)
Baldwin Locomotive Works: 1908
Philadelphia circa 1908. "Baldwin Locomotive Works." Panorama of two 8x10 inch ... battery electric, four wheel hub drive vehicles built by Philadelphia based Commercial Truck Company of America and the Imperial ... on the corner of Wallace Street and is now occupied by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. The date on the photograph (1908) is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 10:24pm -

Philadelphia circa 1908. "Baldwin Locomotive Works." Panorama of two 8x10 inch glass negatives, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. ObservatoriesObservatories down the block. Was it a university building? [Central High School. - tterrace] Baldwin kept 'em rollingNot just locomotives, but they were also one of the primary producers of the M3 Lee-Grant and M4 Sherman medium tanks, the main battle tanks of US Armored Forces during WW2. Holy cow! This is the view from the from the front door of the building I am currently sitting in. Of course that building was not built until years later, and I would say 0% of the buildings in this photo still stand (well maybe that church just beyond the high school), but none the less this is a totally awesome picture from back when North Broad Street was the place to be in Philly. Too SmallBaldwin soon outgrew this massive building and built a huge new plant a few miles south at Eddystone, PA. The company struggled in the transition from steam to diesel locomotives and eventually expired in 1956. Here is an overhead view of the plant with the Pensylvania Railroad main tracks crossing through the center. Now all that remains is the distinctive cross-shaped headquarters building with other parts of the property occupied by Boeing's helicopter division, a coal-fired power plant and a shopping center. Battery Electric Double Deck BusThe bus featured in the Baldwin Locomotive Works panorama was only the second earliest double decker built in the United States. It was operated by the Auto Transit Company, registered in Wyalusing and was one of 16 battery electric, four wheel hub drive vehicles built by Philadelphia based Commercial Truck Company of America and the Imperial Electric Motor Company. Seating 36 passengers the first bus entered service in 1907 on Broad Street from Chestnut to Diamond and thence to Fairmount Park. It was planned to operate a service on Broad Street to the Navy Yard but it's doubtful if this happened because within a year the company was beset by investment difficulties culminating in it going out of business. Where's Dagwood?As the comic strip "Blondie" was originally conceived, Dagwood was heir to the "Bumstead Locomotive Works" fortune, but was disowned after marrying Blondie, a 1920s "flapper." I always thought "Bumstead" was a thinly-veiled reference to Baldwin. Re: Observatoriestterrace - how in the heck did you figure that out? The view appears to north on North Broad Street from Spring Garden Street. The other building in the distance just beyond the observatories with the pointed roof appears to still exist, sans pointed roof, on the corner of Wallace Street and is now occupied by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging. The date on the photograph (1908) is interesting in that this site notes that the factory moved from its North Broad Location to a larger facility in 1906. Yikes!Call me a wuss, but you'll NEVER find me climbing that ladder to the roof! Man, just looking at it gives me the willies! I guess someone had to put the "I" back in "Baldw n". [The "I" is there, but mostly hidden by the left ladder member. - tterrace] Oh no! You're right! That's worse; the poor schlub using the ladder had to be going ALL the way to the roof! GrandpopMy grandfather labored at Baldwin. He was an Eastern European immigrant happy to be employed. On the other hand, he eventually became ill from the toxic dust throughout the factory. Stitching?Pardon me for asking a question that may have been asked before, but who does the stitching together of the individual negatives to make the panorama? Are they like that in the archives? I've worn my eyeballs out trying to find the seam! [Dave does that using Photoshop. - tterrace] PopMy father worked for for Baldwin for a few years as what we'd now think of as a sales engineer. He'd oversee final checkout and deadheaded on delivery of several locomotives to customers. This would have been 20+ years later than the Shorpy photo, so possibly from the new digs at Eddystone. Wibur BudsThe Wilbur Chocolate Company is still alive and well in Lititz Pa. My sister and brother in law live near the factory and send us a few pounds of Wilbur buds each year. They look like Hershey kisses but taste much better imo. Baldwin Locomotive todayMore here. Broadly Worded@timeandagain: The link you provided may answer your question: "From its cramped 200-acre site in North Philadelphia, the company moved in 1906 to a 600-acre facility in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. (The company consolidated all production to the Eddystone yard in 1928.)" It seems to say that production continued at North Broad until 1928, even though Eddystone was online as of 1906. (Panoramas, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Philadelphia, Railroads)
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