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Vintage: Historical Photos of Harvard University (19th Century)

Vintage: Historical Photos of Harvard University (19th Century)

Established originally by the Massachusetts legislature and soon thereafter named for John Harvard (its first benefactor), Harvard is the United States’ oldest institution of higher learning, and the Harvard Corporation (formally, the President and Fellows of Harvard College) is its first chartered corporation. Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregational and Unitarian clergy. Its…
Biography: 19th Century pioneer photographer Johann Pucher

Biography: 19th Century pioneer photographer Johann Pucher

Johann Pucher (1814-1864) was a Slovene photographer who invented an unusual process for making photographs on glass. As a schoolchild, Pucher was interested in art, languages, and the natural sciences, especially chemistry and physics. He wanted to study art, but obeyed his mother’s wish and became a Catholic priest. However, he continued to experiment in photography, art, and music. When…
Helen Levitt: Manhattan Transit

Helen Levitt: Manhattan Transit

Helen Levitt’s pictures haunt like an intimate ghost – ever present, never forceful, curious, and receptive. In 1938 Levitt accompanied Walker Evans on a number of trips when he photographed passengers on the New York subway and soon she was taking her own shots. More empathetic and informal with a camera, Levittʼs finest photographs came from being present to the…
Vintage: Helsinki in the late 19th Century

Vintage: Helsinki in the late 19th Century

During the 19th century, Helsinki became the economic and cultural center of Finland; as elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were key factors behind the city’s growth. The first Helsinki railway station opened in 1862 with service to Hämeenlinna. Beginning from the late 19th century, the Finnish language became more and more dominant in the city, since the…
Biography: 19th Century Motion photographer Eadweard Muybridge

Biography: 19th Century Motion photographer Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 – 1904) was an English photographer important for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first name Eadweard as the original Anglo-Saxon form of Edward, and the surname Muybridge believing it to be similarly archaic. Muybridge emigrated to the United States at the age of 20, arriving…
Vintage: New York City before the Indoor Toilets

Vintage: New York City before the Indoor Toilets

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…
Biography: 19th Century African-American daguerreotypist Augustus Washington

Biography: 19th Century African-American daguerreotypist Augustus Washington

Augustus Washington (1820 – 1875) was an African-American photographer and daguerreotypist, who later in his career emigrated to Liberia. Washington grew up in the Americas of the 1820s, a time when African Americans were denied even the most basic rights. Against all convention, all he wanted to do was study. He struggled to get admission into various educational institutions across…
Vintage: Portrait Postcards of the German Actresses (1910s-1920s)

Vintage: Portrait Postcards of the German Actresses (1910s-1920s)

The German film industry (during Weimar Republic), which was protected during the war by the ban on foreign films import, became exposed at the end of the war to the international film industry while having to face an embargo, this time on its own films. Many countries banned the import of German films and audiences themselves were resisting anything that…
Sory Sanle: Volta Photo 1965–85

Sory Sanle: Volta Photo 1965–85

Ibrahima Sory Sanle (b. 1943) started his photographic career in Bobo-Dioulasso in 1960, the year his country (now Burkina Faso) gained independence from France. Sanle opened his Volta Photo portrait studio in 1965 and, working with his Rolleiflex twin lens medium format camera, Volta Photo was soon recognised as the finest studio in the city. Voltaic photography’s unsung golden age…
Robin Yong: Flowers of Ethiopia

Robin Yong: Flowers of Ethiopia

The Surma tribe of the Omo Valley, Ethiopia…a place where mankind probably began. The children and teens appear innocent and beautiful, with their ornate body paint work and exotic head decorations made of flowers. The place appears peaceful and untouched, but in reality, life here is harsh with the tribespeople at frequent wars with neighbouring tribes over cattle grazing rights.…
Biography: 19th Century Australian photographer Charles Kerry

Biography: 19th Century Australian photographer Charles Kerry

Charles Kerry (1857 – 1928) began working in the Sydney photo studio of A.H. Lamartiniere in 1875. When Lamartiniere fled from creditors a few years later, Kerry took charge of the company, paying debts and turning around the business. Initially Kerry specialised in portraits but branched into photographing Sydney scenery and society. He was also active in the postcard business.…
Xavier Miserachs: Photobolsillo

Xavier Miserachs: Photobolsillo

Of the series that make up this book, the most widely recognised is Barcelona, blanc i negre [Barcelona, black and white]. It depicts Barcelona during the sixties children at play, fruit sellers in El Born, flower vendors, families… Costa Brava Show portrays beaches, people and the summer atmosphere in Ibiza, Tossa de Mar, Cadaque s and Calonge. In contrast, the…
Jake Verzosa: The Last Tattooed Women of Kallinga

Jake Verzosa: The Last Tattooed Women of Kallinga

The Last Tattooed Women of Kalinga presents a series of portraits by Jake Verzosa who laments and celebrates a dying tradition of tattooing in villages throughout the Cordillera mountains in the northern Philippines. For nearly a thousand years the Kalinga women have proudly worn these lace-like patterns or batok on their skin as symbols of beauty, wealth, stature and fortitude.…
Vintage: Girls Celebrating the New Year’s Eve (1930s)

Vintage: Girls Celebrating the New Year’s Eve (1930s)

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve (also known as Old Year’s Day or Saint Sylvester’s Day in many countries), the last day of the year, is on December 31 which is the seventh day of the Christmas season. In many countries, New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and…
Ruth Kaplan: Bathers

Ruth Kaplan: Bathers

Bathers explores the social theatre of communal bathing, a ritual that is both private and public. Ruth Kaplan’s journey began in the nudist hot springs of California in 1991. By participating in the baths, Kaplan gradually became accepted and was able to make photographs of her fellow bathers, occupying the dual role of empathetic voyeur and participant. From California she…
Vintage: Models in Victorian Era (19th Century)

Vintage: Models in Victorian Era (19th Century)

Toward the end of the era (about the 1890s) women’s fashions became simpler and less extravagant and bustles fell out of fashion. The new, looser dresses gave way to a more flowing look. Corsets were still worn, but became slightly longer to provide the slimmer shape that was coming into fashion.
Biography: 19th Century Portrait photographer Lina Jonn

Biography: 19th Century Portrait photographer Lina Jonn

Lina Jonn, birth name Carolina Johnsson, (1861–1896) was an early Swedish photographer. Jonn appears to have learnt photography in Paris but her first professional work was in the Swedish city of Helsingborg where she joined the Finnish photographer Per Alexis Brandt who ran a studio there. In 1891, she opened her own studio in Lund which soon attracted many influential…
Vintage: Death Valley Road Trip in 1926

Vintage: Death Valley Road Trip in 1926

The Death Valley Automobile Trip photograph album containing 76 prints appears to be the record of a sightseeing trip made from Los Angeles to Death Valley in 1926. A written record–in the form of diary entries–is also included and consists of a series of detailed captions describing the landscape, landmarks, and individuals encountered in Death Valley. Neither the diarist nor…