Mrs. Arciaga

What's the difference between an original and a reproduction in a medium that's designed to be endlessly reproducible? Most art dealers would say that a photograph printed after the death of the photographer is a reproduction, but if the photographer didn't do his own printing, is there really a difference? A first, second, and in many cases a third generation copy negative will be almost indistinguishable from the camera original. The original of this image would have been a black & white photograph that had been hand tinted to add color. Judging by the condition and dried tape on the back of this print, it's very old, but it's printed on color paper. Some time in the past, probably at least forty or fifty years ago, someone wanted a copy of this image, so they went to a photo lab, had a color copy neg and print made. Written on the back, Mrs. M Arciaga, 573-18th, San Pedro, Cal."

Trench Warfare

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Again, I don't know a lot about commercial printing processes, but I think these are rotogravures. (Click on rotogravure in the labels section for other examples.) I picked up a group of these years ago before the photo lab went under, and I made a few copy negs and then went ahead and made conventional black & white photos from them. The trench shot is captioned, "Taking a look at Jerry. Officers and men of the 18th Inf., 1st Div., in the front line, Ansauville sector, Jan. 20, 1918." The snow picture, "Meanwhile, in the states, training was going forward at top speed. Cold! We'll say it was cold. The day in January 1918, when this picture was taken on the Kishwaukee range, Camp Grant, it was fifteen degrees below zero. These are hardy "Blackhawks" of the 343d Inf., Colonel Charles R. Howland commanding. In training the men of the 172d Brigade to which col. Howland's regiment belonged, Brig. Gen. Charles H. Martin rigorously insisted upon the shooting and discipline demanded by General Pershing. He had the earnest co-operation of his regimental commanders, Col. Howland and Col. Benjamin T. Simmons, and the friends of the brigade claimed that there were no finer soldiers in the National Army than those of the 172d Brigade. The training program never took cognizance of weather conditions. Some surprisingly good scores were made the day this picture was taken. We remember that Major Charles Collette made a perfect score at 700 yards. J.C.R." Unlike in World War 2 when military censorship only applied to facts that could jeopardize on going operations, in World War 1, president Wilson controlled the press and only allowed coverage that was supportive of the war effort. These images seem to be part of a press release. Note that on the trench picture, it's identified as an official photo of the Signal Corps.