1910s

Vintage: WorldWar1 submarine U-118 at Hastings (1919)

Vintage: WorldWar1 submarine U-118 at Hastings (1919)

U-118 was to be transferred to France, but while in tow from Harwich to Brest, in company with UB-121, in the early hours of 15 April 1919, she broke tow in a storm, and ran aground on the beach at Hastings in Sussex at approximately 00:45, directly in front of the Queens Hotel. Initially, there were attempts to displace the…
Vintage: Princess May aground on Sentinel Island (1910)

Vintage: Princess May aground on Sentinel Island (1910)

On 5 August 1910, Princess May, having departed from Skagway under the command of Captain MacLeod with 80 passengers, 68 crew, and a shipment of gold, was proceeding south down Lynn Canal in heavy fog. At a speed of about 10 knots (19 km/h), the ship ran aground on rocks near the north end of Sentinel Island, where there was…
Vintage: Christmas in New York City (1910s)

Vintage: Christmas in New York City (1910s)

The date of Christmas and some American traditions have pagan roots. In the Roman Empire, December 25th was the day of “natalis solis invict” (the Roman birth of the unconquered sun), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness.” Saturnalia, a Roman festival that honored the sun, lasted from December 17th to December 23rd. The winter solstice, the…
Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Norfolk, Virginia (1919)

Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Norfolk, Virginia (1919)

In the 1980’s 46 glass plate negatives were found in the attic of a Norfolk home. The plates measured 8.5” x 6.5”. Through the generous support of the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Old Dominion University, and Colorcraft Corporation, ten portfolios were created. The contact prints were archivally processed. The photographer remains anonymous. It is assumed that he…
Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Norfolk, Virginia (1919)

Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Norfolk, Virginia (1919)

In the 1980’s 46 glass plate negatives were found in the attic of a Norfolk home. The plates measured 8.5” x 6.5”. Through the generous support of the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Old Dominion University, and Colorcraft Corporation, ten portfolios were created. The contact prints were archivally processed. The photographer remains anonymous. It is assumed that he…
Vintage: Portraits of Geraldine Farrar (1910s)

Vintage: Portraits of Geraldine Farrar (1910s)

Geraldine Farrar (1882- 1967) was an American soprano opera singer and film actress. Farrar was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of baseball player Sidney Farrar, and his wife Henrietta Barnes. At age 5, she began studying music in Boston and by 14 was giving recitals. Later she studied voice with the American soprano Emma Thursby in New York City,…
Vintage: Broken Blossoms (1919)

Vintage: Broken Blossoms (1919)

Broken Blossoms is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D.W. Griffith. Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China because he “dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands.” His idealism fades as he is faced with the brutal reality of London’s gritty inner-city. However, his mission is finally realized in his devotion to…
Vintage: Old Hamburg (1910s)

Vintage: Old Hamburg (1910s)

After periodic political unrest, particularly in 1848, Hamburg adopted in 1860 a semidemocratic constitution that provided for the election of the Senate, the governing body of the city-state, by adult taxpaying males. Other innovations included the separation of powers, the separation of Church and State, freedom of the press, of assembly and association. Hamburg became a member of the North…
Vintage: Titanic before Its Sinking in 1912

Vintage: Titanic before Its Sinking in 1912

The passenger facilities aboard Titanic aimed to meet the highest standards of luxury. According to Titanic’s general arrangement plans, the ship could accommodate 833 First Class Passengers, 614 in Second Class and 1,006 in Third Class, for a total passenger capacity of 2,453. In addition, her capacity for crew members exceeded 900, as most documents of her original configuration have…
Vintage: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh – Persian princess

Vintage: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh – Persian princess

Taj Saltaneh (1883 – 1936‎) was a Persian princess and memoirist of the Qajar Dynasty, a daughter of Naser al-Din Shah, the King of Persia from 1843 to May 1896 by his wife Turan es-Saltaneh. She was married to Amir Hussein Khan Shoja’-al Saltaneh and had four children, two daughters and two sons. They later divorced. She was the love…
Vintage: Clémentine Delait – French bearded lady

Vintage: Clémentine Delait – French bearded lady

Clémentine Delait (1865 – 1939) was a French bearded lady who kept a café. Delait and her husband kept a café in Thaon-les-Vosges, in Lorraine, France. According to later accounts, Clémentine Delait visited a carnival, saw a bearded woman with some stubble and boasted that she could grow a better beard herself. Her husband bet 500 francs to back her.…
Vinatge: Flooding in the Thames Valley, December 1915

Vinatge: Flooding in the Thames Valley, December 1915

During a House of Commons sitting in February 1915, the prime minister, Herbert Asquith, replying to a question about the damage caused by flooding, said: “The attention of the Government has been called from time to time to the serious injury caused by floods in the Upper Thames Valley and to the desirability of a careful inquiry into the matter.…
Vintage: First Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)

Vintage: First Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914)

In 1911 a group of scientists and adventurers left Hobart under the leadership of Dr Douglas Mawson. They were bound for Macquarie Island and the then unknown parts of Antarctica. The scientists of the expedition produced information that later made an major contribution to knowledge of the region. The exploration of new lands established precedence to claims, formalised in 1936…
Vintage: London by Rex Hazlewood (1918-1919)

Vintage: London by Rex Hazlewood (1918-1919)

David ‘Rex’ Hazlewood (1886 – 1968) was born in Dulwich Hill in Sydney’s Inner West and grew up in the suburban areas around Homebush, Chatswood and Epping. He first trained as a tailor in a city clothing warehouse but it was Rex’s father, David, who was himself a keen amateur photographer who fostered the same passion in his son. Some…
Vintage: Hamburg, Germany (1910s)

Vintage: Hamburg, Germany (1910s)

When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced a second layer to the fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century, he extended Hamburg and created a “New Town” (Neustadt) whose street names still date from the grid system of roads he introduced. In 1842, about a quarter of the inner city was destroyed in the “Great Fire”. The…
Vintage: 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin

Vintage: 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin

On the morning of Monday 24 April, about 1,200 members of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army mustered at several locations in central Dublin. Among them were members of the all-female Cumann na mBan. Some wore Irish Volunteer and Citizen Army uniforms, while others wore civilian clothes with a yellow Irish Volunteer armband, military hats, and bandoliers. They were…
Vintage: Ivyhurst (early 20th Century)

Vintage: Ivyhurst (early 20th Century)

Ivyhurst’ was the home of Robinson Franklin Downey (1849-1923) and his wife, Ella Jean ‘Jennie’ (Wilson) (Lindsey) Downey (1860-1934), prominent citizens with influential political ties. ‘Ivyhurst’ played host to such celebrities as President William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson’s Vice President Thomas Marshall, William Jennings Bryan, and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. After the death of Mrs. Downey, Ivyhurst passed into the ownership…
Vintage: Harriet Quimby, the First Licensed U.S. Woman Pilot (1910s)

Vintage: Harriet Quimby, the First Licensed U.S. Woman Pilot (1910s)

Harriet Quimby became interested in aviation in 1910, when she attended the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament in Elmont, New York. There she met John Moisant, a well-known aviator and operator of a flight school, and his sister Matilde. On August 1, 1911, she took her pilot’s test and became the first U.S. woman to earn an Aero Club of…