Looking at the Eclipse — October 1865

From Harper’s Weekly

(click on image to view larger version)

Harper’s Weekly - February 11, 1865

Assumption of the Mother of God Church in Deviatiny (200 years old). [Russian Empire]
(English translation of photo title)

Russian Title: Khram vo imia Uspeni?ia Bozh’ei Materi v Deviatinakh (200 liet). [Rossiiskaia imperiia]
abt. 1909
Prokudin-Gorskii, Sergei Mikhailovich, 1863-1944, photographer.
album: Views along the Mariinskii Canal and river system, Russian Empire
Digital color composite made for the Library by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, 2004.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection (Library of Congress)

Using emerging technological advances in color photography, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) made numerous photographic trips to systematically document the Russian Empire. He conducted most of his visual surveys between 1909 and 1915, although some of his work dates as early as 1905. Library of Congress

Mike’s edited and enhanced version on flickr

Stonington Conecticut in 1940

While I like taking and sharing photographs, I also like finding and sharing public domain historical photos.

1940 Nov.
Delano, Jack, 1914- photographer.
Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection
Original digital image at Library of Congress

Mike’s edited and enhanced version on flickr

I don’t spend much time on YouTube or other video sites, but today I came across some interesting historical footage.

The following excerpts are from Wikipedia

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a pair of mile-long suspension bridges in the U.S. state of Washington, which carry State Route 16 across the Tacoma Narrows between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. The first bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 and became famous four months later for a dramatic wind-induced structural collapse that was caught on motion picture film.

The wind-induced collapse occurred on November 7, 1940 at 11:00 AM (Pacific time), due partially to a physical phenomenon known as mechanical resonance.

From the account of Leonard Coatsworth, a driver who narrowly managed to escape the bridge before the collapse:

“ Just as I drove past the towers, the bridge began to sway violently from side to side. Before I realized it, the tilt became so violent that I lost control of the car… I jammed on the brakes and got out, only to be thrown onto my face against the curb… Around me I could hear concrete cracking… The car itself began to slide from side to side of the roadway.

On hands and knees most of the time, I crawled 500 yards [450 m] or more to the towers… My breath was coming in gasps; my knees were raw and bleeding, my hands bruised and swollen from gripping the concrete curb… Toward the last, I risked rising to my feet and running a few yards at a time… Safely back at the toll plaza, I saw the bridge in its final collapse and saw my car plunge into the Narrows.”

No human life was lost in the collapse of the bridge, though Coatsworth’s cocker spaniel named “Tubby” was lost along with his car in the collapse.

A Very Trying Time.

Caption: “Dust Over Dakota.” A forlorn farmer leans into a dust storm. In: “To Hold This Soil”, Russell Lord, 1938. Miscellaneous Publication No. 321, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Image ID: wea01403, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) Collection
Location: Great Plains, United States
Photo Date: 1935 Circa

Early Color Image by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin Gorskii

Using emerging technological advances in color photography, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) made numerous photographic trips to systematically document the Russian Empire. He conducted most of his visual surveys between 1909 and 1915, although some of his work dates as early as 1905. Library of Congress

Did you see the engineer in the picture:

Look closely, he really is there

More background info:

taken abt. 1910

Prokudin-Gorskii, Sergei Mikhailovich, 1863-1944, photographer.

The railcar in the background is thought to be Prokudin-Gorskii’s traveling photographic laboratory and living quarters.

album: Views in the Ural Mountains, survey of industrial area, Russian Empire

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection (Library of Congress).

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.04424

Prokudin-Gorskii created his negatives by using a camera that exposed one oblong glass plate three times in rapid succession through three different color filters: blue, green, and red. For formal presentations, he printed positive glass slides of these negatives and projected them through a triple lens magic lantern. Prokudin-Gorskii would project the slide through the three lenses, and, with the use of color filters, superimpose the three exposures to form a full color image on a screen. lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/prokhtml/prokcolor.html

I like trains and pictures of old trains, particularly nice images of the steam locomotives. I can remember — barely — when some steam engines were still used on the Union Pacific.

I also like to find large old images where one can see a lot of detail when you look close. I’ve cropped this one several times to show all of the people in the image.

“Giant Bluff.” Elk Canyon on Black Hills and Ft. P. R.R.
A wood-burning locomotive with four cars, on a track below a cliff; several people are posing in front of the train.
1890.
Grabill, John C. H., photographer.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.02546

Family walking on highway, five children.

Started from Idabel, Oklahoma. Bound for Krebs, Oklahoma. Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. In 1936 the father farmed on thirds and fourths at Eagleton, McCurtain County, Oklahoma. Was taken sick with pneumonia and lost farm. Unable to get work on Work Projects Administration and refused county relief in county of fifteen years residence because of temporary residence in another county after his illness

1938 June.

Lange, Dorothea, photographer.

Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection

Original Digital Image File: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b38702

Farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm - Cimaron County, Oklahoma

I’m currently reading a book about the dust bowl period of the Great Depression. It’s a time that most people living today know very little about. Life was different then. Values were different.

I like photography. I like taking pictures and sharing them with others. I also like finding public domain images, cropping them and adjusting them and then sharing them with others.

Along with my own pictures, I plan on presenting images that I find from other times and other places.

Photo Information:
Taken: 1936 Apr.
Rothstein, Arthur - photographer
Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection
Location of public domain digital image: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.00241