Road Trip!

I hate driving in cities, but I love road trips, and this picture looks to have been from a great one.  I put my best magnifying glass on the cars license plate and it's from Pennsylvania in 1928.  And where did she go; Watkins Glen in New York, on Seneca lake in the finger lakes district.  Au Sable, New York on the Au Sable River, near Lake Champlain.  And on Lake Champlain, Rouses Point, a mile south of the Canadian border and during prohibition a great place to meet alcohol smugglers from Canada.  And of course, everyone should know about Montreal and Toronto.  I imagine this lady and her travelling companion(s) circled Lake Ontario, returning through Niagara Falls.  So, Watkins Glen State Park, the Adirondacks, beautiful lakes, smuggled Canadian whiskey,  French speakers, and shredded wheat.  (Shredded wheat is made in Niagara Falls, New York.)  And with no four lane highways, and probably more than a few miles on dirt routes, it must have taken at least a month.  Now that's a trip.

The Los Angeles Proof Sheet

What I'd do to own these negatives!

This is what I imagine when I see these four images.  A young couple drive their old jalopy across country to seek a good life in southern California.  The  first thing they do is  drive around the city and take pictures of all the things they've  dreamed about.  I did the same thing about forty-five years or so after these photos were taken.

More Men In Uniform

For a nation that prides itself on rugged individualism, we sure do love our uniforms.  My first thought was cop, but when I blew it up, I didn't see a badge.  He could still be a policeman, but I think high school ROTC is also a strong possibility.

Number 700, Olita Brown and Her Dobro

Post number 700, (I never thought it would last this long.) and it's time to visit the past. When I first started putting up these old photos, I wasn't getting a lot of visitation. In a good week, I was lucky to get a dozen or so hits, and it wasn't uncommon to not have any. Because so many of the early posts have gone unseen, I've decided to do a repeat from those early days every so often. At least every 100, maybe more often, but not that often. This snapshot of Olita Brown and her Dobro was put up on August 8, 2009, and then I wrote a very brief paragraph about the history of the Dobro guitar. This time, I'm just going to suggest that the viewer click on the image to bring it up in a bigger window and check out that wild dress she's wearing. I can't imagine it was store bought. Click on musical instruments in the labels to see the original post and get a very brief over view of the Dobro.

It's Snowing in Texas

Dated, "MAR 57" Written on the back, "Lita In front of Car Port. Amarillo, Tex." Who says global warming isn't real?

The German American Collection, The Album 16

This is it for the album, and only one more image from the entire collection to go. As already noted, the front cover of the album is missing and it's impossible to tell, with it's pages bound together with a ribbon, if any pages have been removed. Still, this page does seem like a good ending to me. Germany had just gone through a devastating war, for which it was partly responsible, as well as a period of hyperinflation. Between war deaths, a world wide Spanish flu pandemic which killed even more people, and a collapsed economy, there wasn't much to inspire happiness, but somehow or another, there was fun to be had. Germany, in the twenties, had one of the richest cultural movements in history. The Bauhaus, German expressionism, theater, song, and an incredibly rich cinema. And just a decade or so after these photos were taken, it would all be gone as the madness of Nazism took over. And after that another world war. It's very probable that at lest some of the people in these photos died in the slaughter.

The German American Collection, The Album 14

Time to start the final push on the German American collection. No more interruptions! Why is this woman wearing stockings with her swimsuit?

50,000 + How It All Started

I just took a quick look at the stats page and noticed that, sometime in the past week or so, I went over 50,000 page views. I have no idea whether that's a big number for a blog like this or not, but when I started this I was lucky to get thirty or forty views a month, so it seems big to me. Anyway, to mark the 50,000 milestone, I thought I would do something I've never done before. I'm repeating myself. These seven images, all hand printed, by me, form the original glass negatives, are the very first photographs I posted on The New Found Photography.

I think it must be the dream of every collector of old photographs to walk into some out of the way junk shop and find a box of photos by an unknown photographer of real talent. I sometimes wonder, if circumstances had been a bit different, if this could have been my discovery. It was back in the good old days when I had a full time job, a decent income, and three weeks of paid vacation a year. I had just finished a backpacking trip in Montana, had cleaned up, packed the car, and was headed home to Los Angeles, when I made an impulse stop at an antique store, well more of a junk shop actually, and found these glass negatives. The owner of the place told me that he once had a crate of images, all from the same source. He thought that there must have been 500 or so, but he had broken up the collection. He had given some of them away, thrown some out, (Not because they were damaged or not very good, but because they were taking up too much space.) and had been selling the rest for a couple of bucks a piece. He had about forty or so left, but for reasons I've never understood, thought credit cards were for suckers, and it was a cash only sale. I bought these seven, got his phone number, and after I got home called him up, and offered to send him a check for the rest, but he said, "Nah, it's too much work."

I wonder what those other negatives might have been like. And I also wonder who took them. Perhaps it was a local professional or maybe an amateur who had a primitive darkroom in the fruit cellar. When I look at the farm photograph, I don't see the mother of the family, so I sometimes speculate that the photographer was a woman. We will never know, and any chance of finding out has, I think, been destroyed by a road side vendor, who thought more highly of telephone poll insulators, old barbed wire, and 50 year old beer bottles than he did of a box of glass negatives, and the unknown photographer who recorded a small, intimate piece of Montana history.

The Woman, Her Bike, and the Mysterious Stranger

Who is the man of mystery, and why is he handing the woman his card?

The German American Collection, The Postcards

So why are there a couple of non photographic postcards in this post? My one exception to my all photos all the time rule; If it's part of a greater collection, it gets a pass. To repeat, a dealer in Florida bought these images at an estate sale. He sold a lot of the pictures separately, and then put the rest up on line in a couple of lots. I tried to get them all, but could only get this one group of pictures. Because there are so many gaps, and very little identifiers, I'm putting up this collection when I get around to it, in a very catch as catch can manner. I call it the German American collection because there was one photo postcard of a wedded couple (Already posted)and the butt end of an old album, both from Germany. When the family who owned these photos came to the United States is a mystery to me. Click on German American in the labels section to bring the whole lot up.

Automotive Tintye

This one is a bit of a rarity. The tintype was first described in 1853, and quickly, at least in the United States, became a huge commercial success. It was the first really cheap photographic medium and allowed ordinary people to have portraits made. Too, because most tintypes were small, because they were very durable, they could be carried around and mailed to family and friends with out having to put them in hard, protective cases. But, the tintype began to loose it's popularity by the late 1870's. The carte de visite and cabinet card, both of which had the advantage of being reproducible, took over the market. Of course, some tintypists continued to practice their trade. This tintype of five people sitting in a car was probably taken in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Affectionate Men

Printed on postcard stock. The message on the front reads, "this is Charley with the cap on it was taking at the fest fall Bel lost" At least I think that's what the writer meant, since "fall" is off where it shouldn't be. The Message on the back, "gime 15 1911 Dear mother as were are all well and soray to here that Iris is not well. I dont see how i could com out But i love to. I have 40 turkies But few chicknes this is my day to take Butter to moristoun. Roy has got the cows here and i must milk. I sit a letter soon B By and send Kate our love to." The name of the addressee is partly obscured by the post mark but I think it's "Mrs (obscured) Rork, Greensburg, Indiana RR6" Greensburg is the county seat of Decatur county and had a population of 5,140 in 1910. The postmark is a bit smeared, so I can't make out the name of the town where it was mailed, but I can make out, "JUNE 16 4 PM 1911 OHIO"

Saturday, July 24, 1909 7:45 P.M. Newark, New Jersey

I'd love to know the history of this card. Was it a standard, mass produced card sold to the motoring crowd, or did the motorist send off a photo of himself and family in their new car for a customized job? Was it a promotional piece given to new car buyers? Perhaps it was made for early road rallies that automobile manufacturers sponsored to build up interest for the industry. After all, in 1909, cars still weren't thought of as a sure fire replacement for the horse. Newark, N.J. is written in with pen. Did this motorist save this card to mailed at his final destination, or did he have a stack of them, mailed from every small town and city along the way? Written along the top margin of the card, "I hope you had a fine time in Gunnison." On the bottom margin, "Regards from the folks," and a name, "Will" and a last name I can't make out. Addressed to "Mrs. Coner Kinford, 921 Acoma St., Denver, Colorado." In 1909, most of the roads between Denver and New Jersey would have been dirt, and every rain drop, rut, and unsigned road junction would have slowed down Will and his automobile. It might have taken him a week to get to Newark, it might have taken him a month, or maybe even longer. Today, a driver on the interstate, willing to put in long days and pushing the speed limit can make it in two days.

Driving Cars

I've got lots of car themed photos in the collection, and the only reason these two aren't being published separately, is that I bought them from the same store. There is a slight resemblance, but I don't think it's strong enough to say it's the same people in each photo. Written on the back of the image with the woman in white, "Dot and her friend, Everett Raabe taken along the road to Ft. Jennings." There is a Ft. Jennings in Putnam County in Ohio.

Olita Brown and Her Dobro

Identified on the back, Olita Brown stands in front of an old car, holding her Dobro guitar. The Dobro is actually a trade name now owned by the Gibson Guitar Company. The Dobro was first made by the Dobro Company owned by the Dopyera brothers. John Dopyera invented a resonator guitar, with built in metal cones that amplified the sound of the guitar. The Dobro is very popular with country/blue grass musicians. Click on the image for a larger view, and the word "Dobro" can be seen on the guitar's neck.

The Cleveland Motor Company

Three nice little urban pictures. I have no idea what city these pictures were taken in, but the ad in the window is for a Cleveland Automobile. Frederick C. Chandler founded the Chandler Automobile Company in Cleveland, Ohio in 1913. In 1919, he founded the Cleveland Automobile Comapny to make a lower cost car. He merged them in 1926, and sold out to Huppmobile in 1928. $550 is about a third of what a Cleveland went for new.

Montana Glass Negatives

One of the reasons that I hate antique dealers is that they break up collections of photographs to increase their profits. I purchased these images in Montana. It's kind of the dream of all photo collectors to discover a large collection of images from an unknown, though clearly, talented photographer. Looking at this group of images, I think I may have found one, but with only a handful of the negatives still left together, we'll never know. I think the image of the farm family one of the strongest photographs I've ever seen. The portraits of the cowboy and beekeeper are amazing. I showed these to a movie costumer who dated the clothing to the late 19th to early 20th century. Because there is no mother in the farm scene, I think the photographer might have been the mother, making her glass negaties, at home, in the kitchen. Click on images to see them in a larger window.

I used to work in a photo lab where I had access to an 8x10 enlarger. I was able to use it to make high quality blow-ups. These images were made directly from the negatives, rather than copy negs made from contact prints.