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Vintage: American West During the American Frontier Days

Vintage: American West During the American Frontier Days

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By 1848 the United States had acquired official title to the contiguous land stretching westward to the Pacific, south to the Rio Grande, and north to the 49th parallel. Americans had long since explored and settled in many of these areas, but legitimate possession created an impetus for development that began to crystallize as other timely occurrences brought a greater…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Siberia (1900s)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Siberia (1900s)

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The growing power of Russia in the West began to undermine the Siberian Khanate in the 16th century. First, groups of traders and Cossacks began to enter the area. The Russian Army was directed to establish forts farther and farther east to protect new settlers from European Russia. Towns such as Mangazeya, Tara, Yeniseysk and Tobolsk were developed, the last…
Vintage: Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory in Adelaide (1904-1906)

Vintage: Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory in Adelaide (1904-1906)

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In 1900, Lewis Cycle Works made the leap from bicycles to motor driven vehicles with the creation of the Lewis motor car. Built in-house, the company soon realized that there would be no profit in hand-built cars, when they could be more easily and cheaply imported from other countries. The solution was to use their expertise in producing bicycles to…
Vintage: New York City before the Indoor Toilets

Vintage: New York City before the Indoor Toilets

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If you’ve ever bemoaned the fact that you share a bathroom with several family members or housemates, you’re not alone. Most New Yorkers live in apartments and most units have just a single bathroom. A hundred and fifty years ago, however, the situation was much worse. At the time, New Yorkers had just a few choices when it came to…
Vintage: Early 20th Century Kids Playgrounds

Vintage: Early 20th Century Kids Playgrounds

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On warm spring evenings, blustery fall afternoons, and sticky summer days, when nostalgia and memories brush past you, where does your mind go? Where did you spend many hours as a school-age child? For most of us it was a playground, whether climbing the playground equipment or running circles on the athletic field, letting our imaginations take us anywhere and…
Vintage: People Mesmerized by Holiday Windows in New York City (1900s)

Vintage: People Mesmerized by Holiday Windows in New York City (1900s)

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Each year department stores unveil their holiday window displays to admiring crowds. Festive windows have been a tradition in New York City since the 1870s; R.H. Macy, of the retailer Macy’s, is largely credited with having created one of the first Christmas window displays in 1874. In recent years, gazing into store windows has become almost as much a tradition…
Vintage: Canadian Cowboys (late 19th to early 20th Centuries)

Vintage: Canadian Cowboys (late 19th to early 20th Centuries)

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Southern Alberta was, and still is, ranching country, with millions of acres of grasslands providing pasture for hungry cattle. Many ranches were established in the province beginning in the 1880s, and cowboys were hired to help take care of the cattle, horses, and other livestock. They worked for large outfits such as the Bar U Ranch, the CC Ranch at…
Vintage: Portraits of President Theodore Roosevelt (1900s-1910s)

Vintage: Portraits of President Theodore Roosevelt (1900s-1910s)

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When Theodore Roosevelt became president of the U.S. in 1901 America’s society and economy were changing rapidly, and with his energy and visionary leadership he set the maturing nation on the path to prosperous growth and diplomatic influence that would last throughout the 20th Century. By the time he left office in March 1909, Roosevelt also had changed forever the…
Vintage: 1906 San Francisco earthquake

Vintage: 1906 San Francisco earthquake

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The 1906 earthquake preceded the development of the Richter magnitude scale by three decades. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the quake on the modern moment magnitude scale is 7.8; values from 7.7 to as high as 8.3 have been proposed. According to findings published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, severe deformations in the earth’s crust…
Vintage: Portrait of Miss Lily Elsie (1900s and 1910s)

Vintage: Portrait of Miss Lily Elsie (1900s and 1910s)

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Lily Elsie’s biggest success came in creating the title role in the English-language version of The Merry Widow in the London production. Edwardes took Elsie to see the original German version (Die Lustige Witwe) in Berlin. Elsie was at first reluctant to take on the demanding part, thinking her voice too light for the role, but Edwardes persuaded her to…
Vintage: Scotland during the Edwardian Era (1900s)

Vintage: Scotland during the Edwardian Era (1900s)

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The Edwardian era was a time of unprecedented social and political revolution in Britain. By the start of the new century, the country had reached a level of such general prosperity that, for the first time, working men and women were in a position to both argue and agitate for a share of the wealth. In Scotland, at the centre…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Native American People (Early 20th Century)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Native American People (Early 20th Century)

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For thirty years, with the backing of men like J. Pierpont Morgan and former president Theodore Roosevelt, but at great expense to his family life and his health, Edward S. Curtis lived among dozens of native tribes, devoting his life to his calling until he produced a definitive and unparalleled work, The North American Indian. The New York Herald hailed…
Vintage: Public portraits of President Theodore Roosevelt (1900s)

Vintage: Public portraits of President Theodore Roosevelt (1900s)

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On September 6, President McKinley was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz. Roosevelt was vacationing in Vermont, and traveled to Buffalo to visit McKinley in the hospital. It appeared that McKinley would recover, so Roosevelt resumed his vacation in the Adirondacks. When McKinley’s condition worsened, Roosevelt began the trip to Buffalo.…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Mexico City (1900s)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Mexico City (1900s)

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Under the rule of Porfirio Díaz, Mexico City experienced a massive transformation. Díaz’s goal was to create a city which could rival the great European cities. He and his government came to the conclusion that they would use Paris as a model, while still containing remnants of Amerindian and Hispanic elements. This style of Mexican-French fusion architecture became colloquially known…
Vintage: Everyday Life in Belgium (1900s)

Vintage: Everyday Life in Belgium (1900s)

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Belgium was one of the first countries to experience an Industrial Revolution, which brought prosperity in the 19th century but also opened a political dichotomy between liberal businessmen and socialist workers. The king set up his own private colonial empire in the Belgian Congo, which the government took over after a major scandal in 1908. Belgium was neutral but its…
Vintage: Cléo de Mérode Portraits (1890s and 1900s)

Vintage: Cléo de Mérode Portraits (1890s and 1900s)

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Posing for many photographers who diffuse her image worldwide, in newspapers and postcards, she is elected Beauty Queen in 1896 among various celebrities. The same year, she enhances her fame when a white marble sculpture, La Danseuse, by Alexandre Falguière, is said to have been moulded on her body; facing a public scandal, she claims she only lent her features…
Vintage: Shipwrecks from Isles of Scilly (Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries)

Vintage: Shipwrecks from Isles of Scilly (Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries)

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From 1869 onwards, members of the family systematically recorded most of the great shipwreck disasters that occurred around the Isles of Scilly — a small group of islands off the coast of Cornwall in southern England. Patriarch, seaman, and pioneering shipwreck photojournalist John Gibson established his first photographic studio in Penzance in 1860 before returning to the Scillies and bringing…
Vintage: Streets of St. Louis, Missouri (early XX Century)

Vintage: Streets of St. Louis, Missouri (early XX Century)

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When Missouri became a state in 1821, St. Louis County was created from the boundaries of the former St. Louis subdistrict of the Missouri Territory; St. Louis city existed within the county but was not coterminous with it. Starting in the 1850s, rural county voters began to exert political influence over questions of taxation in the St. Louis County court.…