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Vintage: SS Normandie

Vintage: SS Normandie

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The SS Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France, for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat, crossing the Atlantic in a record 4.14 days, and remains the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built. At 14:30 on 9 February 1942, sparks from a…
Vintage: General Motors streetcar conspiracy

Vintage: General Motors streetcar conspiracy

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Between 1938 and 1950, National City Lines and its subsidiaries, American City Lines and Pacific City Lines—with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California (through a subsidiary), Federal Engineering, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Trucks—gained control of additional transit systems in about 25 cities. Systems included St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Oakland. NCL often converted streetcars to bus…
Vintage: New York by Andreas Feininger (1940s)

Vintage: New York by Andreas Feininger (1940s)

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In advance of World War II, in 1939, Andreas Feininger immigrated to the U.S. where he established himself as a freelance photographer. In 1943 he joined the staff of Life magazine, an association that lasted until 1962. Feininger became famous for his photographs of New York.
Vinatge: Portraits of Gloria Grahame (1940s-1950s)

Vinatge: Portraits of Gloria Grahame (1940s-1950s)

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Gloria Grahame (1923 – 1981), known professionally as Gloria Grahame, was an American stage, film, and television actress and singer. She began her acting career in theatre and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her…
Vintage: America by Jack Delano (1940s)

Vintage: America by Jack Delano (1940s)

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After graduating from the PAFA, Delano proposed a photographic project to the Federal Art Project: a study of mining conditions in the Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania anthracite coal area. Delano sent sample pictures to Roy Stryker and applied for a job at the Farm Security Administration Photography program FSA. Through the help of Edwin Rosskam and Marion Post Wolcott, Stryker offered…
Vintage: Hollywood actress Ella Raines (1940s)

Vintage: Hollywood actress Ella Raines (1940s)

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Ella Raines (1920 – 1988) was an American film and television actress. Ella Raines studied drama at the University of Washington and was appearing in a play there when she was seen by director Howard Hawks. She became the first actress signed to the new production company he had formed with the actor Charles Boyer, B-H Productions, and made her…
Vintage: Calcutta by Clyde Waddell (1945)

Vintage: Calcutta by Clyde Waddell (1945)

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Mr. Waddell was a military photographer. Many of his captions seems like annotations that would be found in a typical military magazine. The album begins with several general long shots of Calcutta and ends with a picture of dhobi-s (washermen) washing clothes. The text accompanying the last photograph also sounds as if the author intended to finish with that picture…
Vintage: Boston Showgirls in the 1940s

Vintage: Boston Showgirls in the 1940s

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A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer’s physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing or even toplessness or nudity. Showgirls are often associated with Latin music and dance, particularly samba. via Boston Public Library
Vintage: The Ovitz Family – Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz (1940s)

Vintage: The Ovitz Family – Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz (1940s)

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The Ovitz family originated from Maramureş County, Romania. They were descended from Shimson Eizik Ovitz (1868–1923), a badchen entertainer, itinerant rabbi and himself a dwarf. He fathered ten children in total, seven of them dwarfs (afflicted with pseudoachondroplasia), from two marriages. The children founded their own ensemble, the Lilliput Troupe. They sang and played music using small instruments and performed…
Vintage: Portraits of Auschwitz Guards During World War II (1940s)

Vintage: Portraits of Auschwitz Guards During World War II (1940s)

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In January 2017, Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance published a massive online record of the Auschwitz staff. The searchable database of the 8,502 overwhelmingly German personnel was created in part to dispel claims that the camp was staffed by many Polish guards. The list shows that most names are predominantly German. Guards and SS Commanders’ pre-conflict occupations are also listed,…
Vintage: Lisbon in the 1940s

Vintage: Lisbon in the 1940s

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During the Estado Novo regime (1926–1974), Lisbon was expanded at the cost of other districts within the country, resulting in nationalist and monumental projects. New residential and public developments were constructed; the zone of Belém was modified for the 1940 Portuguese Exhibition, while along the periphery new districts appeared to house the growing population. The inauguration of the bridge over…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Soviet People during World War II

Vintage: Everyday Life of Soviet People during World War II

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The Soviet Union suffered greatly in the war, losing around 27 million people. Approximately 2.8 million Soviet POWs died of starvation, mistreatment, or executions in just eight months of 1941–42. During the war, the Soviet Union together with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered as the Big Four of Allied powers in World War II and…
Vintage: Young Tasha Tudor and Her Children (1940s)

Vintage: Young Tasha Tudor and Her Children (1940s)

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Tasha Tudor (1915–2008) is one of America’s best-known and beloved illustrators. Her first little story, Pumpkin Moonshine, was published in 1938. She illustrated nearly one hundred books, the last being the 2003 release, The Corgiville Christmas. She received many awards and honors, including Caldecott Honors for Mother Goose and 1 is One. Many of her books are printed in foreign languages…
Vintage: Railway in Chicago (1940s)

Vintage: Railway in Chicago (1940s)

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Chicago is the most important railroad center in North America. More lines of track radiate in more directions from Chicago than from any other city. Chicago has long been the most important interchange point for freight traffic between the nation’s major railroads and it is the hub of Amtrak, the intercity rail passenger system. Chicago ranks second (behind New York…
Vintage: Traffic control in occupied Poland (1940-1941)

Vintage: Traffic control in occupied Poland (1940-1941)

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Under the terms of two decrees by Hitler (8 October and 12 October 1939), large areas of western Poland were annexed to Germany. These included all the territories which Germany had lost under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, such as the Polish Corridor, West Prussia and Upper Silesia, but also a large area of indisputably Polish territory east of these…
Vintage: First Atomic Bomb Tested (July 16, 1945)

Vintage: First Atomic Bomb Tested (July 16, 1945)

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Trinity was the code name of the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The exact origin of the code name “Trinity” for the test is unknown, but it is often attributed to Oppenheimer as a reference to the poetry of John Donne, which in…
Glass-Plate Group Portraits from Romania (1940s)

Glass-Plate Group Portraits from Romania (1940s)

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Amazing collection of group portraits by Romanian photographer Costică Acsinte. Costică Acsinte was born 4th of July, 1897 in a small village called Perieți, Ialomița County, Costică Acsinte fought in WWI. Despite his formation as a pilot, he was a official war photographer till 15th of June, 1920. As soon as the war was over he opened a studio —…
Vintage: Daily Life in the Warsaw Ghetto (summer of 1941)

Vintage: Daily Life in the Warsaw Ghetto (summer of 1941)

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Average food rations in 1941 for Jews in Warsaw were limited to 184 calories, compared to 699 calories for gentile Poles and 2,613 calories for Germans. Unemployment was a major problem in the ghetto. Illegal workshops were created to manufacture goods to be sold illegally on the outside and raw goods were smuggled in, often by children. Hundreds of four-…