Vintage

Vintage: Washington DC in the mid-19th Century (1840s-1860s)

Vintage: Washington DC in the mid-19th Century (1840s-1860s)

In the 1830s, the District’s southern territory of Alexandria went into economic decline partly due to neglect by Congress. The city of Alexandria was a major market in the American slave trade, and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the District, further depressing the economy. Alexandria’s citizens petitioned Virginia to take back the land it…
Vintage: Dublin in the late 19th Century (1860s-1890s)

Vintage: Dublin in the late 19th Century (1860s-1890s)

Dublin, unlike Belfast in the north, did not experience the full effect of the industrial revolution and as a result, the number of unskilled unemployed was always high in the city. Industries like the Guinness brewery, Jameson Distillery, and Jacob’s biscuit factory provided the most stable employment. New working class suburbs grew up in Kilmainham and Inchicore around them. Another…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Seoul in Korean Empire (1900s)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Seoul in Korean Empire (1900s)

In the late 19th century, after hundreds of years of isolation, Seoul opened its gates to foreigners and began to modernize. Seoul became the first city in East Asia to have electricity, trolley cars, water, telephone, and telegraph systems all at the same time. Much of this was due to trade with foreign countries like France and United States. For…
Vintage: Victorian Era Portraits by Lady Clementina Hawarden (1860s)

Vintage: Victorian Era Portraits by Lady Clementina Hawarden (1860s)

Lady Clementina Hawarden (1 June 1822-19 January 1865) was a noted portrait photographer of the 1860s. Hawarden first began to experiment with photography in 1857, taking stereoscopic landscape photographs before moving to large-format, stand-alone portraits of her daughters. Much of Hawarden’s life remains a mystery to us. It is doubtful that she kept a diary as nothing has been discovered,…
Vintage: Everyday Life of Cairo in the 19th Century (1860s-1880s)

Vintage: Everyday Life of Cairo in the 19th Century (1860s-1880s)

Under the Ottomans, Cairo expanded south and west from its nucleus around the Citadel. The city was the second-largest in the empire, behind only Constantinople, and, although migration was not the primary source of Cairo’s growth, twenty percent of its population at the end of the 18th century consisted of religious minorities and foreigners from around the Mediterranean. Still, when…
Vintage: Young Tasha Tudor and Her Children (1940s)

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

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: New York City Manhattan Skyscrapers (early 20th Century)

Vintage: New York City Manhattan Skyscrapers (early 20th Century)

New York has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles spanning distinct historical and cultural periods. These include the Woolworth Building (1913), an early Gothic revival skyscraper with large-scale gothic architectural detail. The 1916 Zoning Resolution required setback in new buildings, and restricted towers to a percentage of the lot size, to allow sunlight to reach the streets…
Vintage: Soldiers during World War I (1914-1918)

Vintage: Soldiers during World War I (1914-1918)

Despite the chaotic nature of war, the lives of soldiers followed relatively predictable schedules. Soldiers rose before dawn each morning, around 5 a.m. They performed standing drills called “Stand-to-Arms,” then received a daily ration of rum around 5:30 a.m. Soldiers continued performing standing drills until approximately 7 a.m., when they received breakfast. Breakfast for soldiers typically consisted of bacon and…
Vintage: Japan Daily Life by Arnold Genthe (1908)

Vintage: Japan Daily Life by Arnold Genthe (1908)

Arnold Genthe was born in Berlin, Prussia, to Louise Zober and Hermann Genthe, a professor of Latin and Greek at the Graues Kloster (Grey Monastery) in Berlin. Genthe followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a classically trained scholar; he received a doctorate in philology in 1894 from the University of Jena, where he knew artist Adolf Menzel, his mother’s cousin.…
Vintage: Life in Sweden by Oskar Jarén (1910s-1920s)

Vintage: Life in Sweden by Oskar Jarén (1910s-1920s)

Oskar Jarén was born in Kasper Borg Frinnaryd in 1877 and died in his hometown in 1954. In 1960s all of his 2,000 glass plates were rescued from oblivion with the help of Frinnaryds photoclub. This collection documents daily life in Sweden from between the 1910s and 1920s. via JÖNKÖPINGS LÄNS MUSEUM
Vintage: The sinking and raising of U-Boat 110 (1918)

Vintage: The sinking and raising of U-Boat 110 (1918)

This collection is taken from an album of photographs found in the Swan Hunter shipbuilders collection at Tyne & Wear Archives. The album is from 1918 and documents the U.B. 110 before she was scrapped on the dry docks of Swan Hunter Wigham Richardson Ltd, Wallsend. The twin-screw German submarine U.B. 110 was built by Blohm & Voss, Hamburg. On…
Vintage: Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest

Vintage: Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest

The original permanent crossing, a decorative suspension bridge of chains, was built between 1897 and 1903, amid a corruption scandal. The Buda end of Erzsébet bridge runs directly into the massive foot of Gellért Hill, necessitating a complicated arrangement of roads to connect to the bridge. The bridge was designed in such a way because a wealthy nobleman, a member…
Vintage: Boats of Old China (Junks) in the 1900s

Vintage: Boats of Old China (Junks) in the 1900s

A junk is an ancient Chinese sailing ship design that is still in use today. Junks were efficient and sturdy ships that sailed long distances as early as the 2nd century AD, although whether this is indeed a date by which the hull form which we know as the junk’s had found its final form is extremely dubious. Most scholars…
Vintage: Building the Tyne Bridge (1927 to 1929)

Vintage: Building the Tyne Bridge (1927 to 1929)

The Tyne Bridge is one of the North East’s most iconic landmarks. These photographs were taken by James Bacon & Sons of Newcastle and document its construction from March 1927 to October 1928. They belonged to James Geddie, who was Chief Assistant Engineer on the construction of the Bridge with Dorman, Long & Co. Ltd. of Middlesbrough. Photos from the…
Vintage: B&W Photos of Scotland from between the 1840s and 1880s

Vintage: B&W Photos of Scotland from between the 1840s and 1880s

In 19th century Glasgow became one of the largest cities in the world, and known as “the Second City of the Empire” after London. After 1860 the Clydeside shipyards specialised in steamships made of iron (after 1870, made of steel), which rapidly replaced the wooden sailing vessels of both the merchant fleets and the battle fleets of the world. It…
Vintage: Amsterdam in Victorian Era by Jacob Olie (1890s)

Vintage: Amsterdam in Victorian Era by Jacob Olie (1890s)

At the end of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution reached Amsterdam. The Amsterdam-Rijn kanaal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine and the Noordzee kanaal to give the port a connection with the North Sea. Both projects improved communication with the rest of Europe and the world dramatically. They gave the economy a big boost.…