Wanna see some really cool pics? Color photographs from the Depression through WW2

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Wanna see some really cool pics? Color photographs from the Depression through WW2

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:24:12 PM EDT

This is a new collection from the Library of Congress featuring 1,600 color photos from the Depression through WW2. Be patient though; you have to hunt through the index to find what might be of interest to you, but the reward is well worth the effort!

It is really something to see the assembly line pics of warplanes being made; and wow, those silver aircraft really were SHINY! The photos are amazingly clear for the time period, and bring History to life much better than black & white does; the people in the pics look like someone you might know, rather than some distant and unrelated past. Seeing Depression era people as they were was a suprise to me- many are well dressed and in bright colors, different than the drab and ragged cloths I imagined them to be wearing...these people were a proud lot (and it took that to get them through the hard times), and it shows in these photograps.

Library of Congress photo index

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:35:13 PM EDT

[#1]

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:39:24 PM EDT

[#2]

those are pretty neat!

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:53:45 PM EDT

[#3]

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:55:03 PM EDT

[#4]

.

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:55:33 PM EDT

[#5]

Farm in Bethel, VT 1943

Butte Montanna 1942

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:56:01 PM EDT

[#6]

Cool, thanks!

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:56:13 PM EDT

[#7]

The caption for this one is awesome.

Hitler would Like this man to go home and forget about the war.

Fixed!

Posted: 12/16/2005 6:57:08 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
The caption for this one is awesome.

memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?fsaall:25:./temp/~ammem_mCdf::displayType=1:m856sd=fsac:m856sf=1a35028:@@@

What is the caption?

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:02:32 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
Quoted:
The caption for this one is awesome.

memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?fsaall:25:./temp/~ammem_mCdf::displayType=1:m856sd=fsac:m856sf=1a35028:@@@

What is the caption?

Check it now. The link was wrong.

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:16:05 PM EDT

[#10]

Awsome, good bye for the night. This is going to take a while. Check under gun and armament...

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:19:22 PM EDT

[#11]

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:21:26 PM EDT

[#12]

Were these taken in color, or were they colorized?

I didn't think they had color film back then.

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:24:52 PM EDT

[#13]

.

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:26:31 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Were these taken in color, or were they colorized?

I didn't think they had color film back then.

color was available as far back as ww1 "If" you had the money.

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:33:29 PM EDT

[#15]

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:38:28 PM EDT

[#16]

The pictures are outstanding (and how refreshing to see a landscape without cellphone towers)

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:40:03 PM EDT

[#17]

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:40:17 PM EDT

[#18]

Posted: 12/16/2005 7:44:07 PM EDT

[#19]

Posted: 12/16/2005 8:23:56 PM EDT

[#20]

Thanks for the link.

Posted: 12/16/2005 10:22:02 PM EDT

[#21]

I remember hearing on the History Channel when they had the series "the Color of War" (or something similar) seems that they had the budget to shoot many of the movies in color but not to distribute. So out came B&W newsreels that are now just getting put into color.

Posted: 12/16/2005 10:29:01 PM EDT

[#22]

Fishing on the bayou. Wonder what they would think of kids today.....

Posted: 12/16/2005 10:36:22 PM EDT

[#23]

Dear GOD! These photos are amazing!
Thanks AyeGuy!

Posted: 12/16/2005 10:45:49 PM EDT

[#24]

Pie Town!

Posted: 12/16/2005 10:47:21 PM EDT

[#25]

This link is really cool
thanks

Posted: 12/17/2005 3:06:56 AM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
This link is really cool
thanks

+1

Posted: 12/17/2005 3:44:37 AM EDT

[#27]

I had to click on this one because of the title

Friends meeting at the Pie Town

Posted: 12/17/2005 3:54:13 AM EDT

[#28]

Check these out. Posted on a flight sim board I go to about a year ago or so.
circa 1907-1915 - Russia before WWI

They were potographed... but weren't printed in color. They had to be projected.

www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

Posted: 12/17/2005 4:00:20 AM EDT

[#29]

Tag for later. I just got home from work and am dog tired.

Posted: 12/17/2005 4:01:16 AM EDT

[#30]

Very cool pics

Posted: 12/17/2005 4:10:53 AM EDT

[#31]

Amazing stuff.

Bump

Posted: 12/17/2005 4:25:22 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
Check these out. Posted on a flight sim board I go to about a year ago or so.
circa 1907-1915 - Russia before WWI

They were potographed... but weren't printed in color. They had to be projected.

www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/

www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87-6040.jpg

www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/images/p87_7010__01477_.jpg

Those (and that process) I'm familiar with. It's the American color photos I was unaware of.

What happened to color film? Those (not the Russian ones, although they have good color too) appear nearly as color-saturated as modern film, and then in the 1950s, which most think of as the advent of modern color film, the color is all washed out. Is it just that old prints and films have faded remarkably, unless taken good care of?

Posted: 12/17/2005 4:29:45 AM EDT

[#33]

Awesome pics.

Posted: 12/17/2005 4:31:05 AM EDT

[#34]

Cool!

Posted: 12/17/2005 5:22:17 AM EDT

[#35]

Posted: 12/17/2005 5:35:38 AM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsac/1a34000/1a34800/1a34899v.jpg

Wow, our grandmothers were kinda hot back then

Posted: 12/17/2005 6:03:07 AM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:

Those (and that process) I'm familiar with. It's the American color photos I was unaware of.

What happened to color film? Those (not the Russian ones, although they have good color too) appear nearly as color-saturated as modern film, and then in the 1950s, which most think of as the advent of modern color film, the color is all washed out. Is it just that old prints and films have faded remarkably, unless taken good care of?

Yes. Unfortunately most early (up until the 1980s) color film media shifts color easily. The next time you watch an episode of MASH, look at it carefully. You will notice an overall reddish or magenta tint. This is because the old 35mm Kodak safety film shifts to red as it degrades. The owners of MASH managed to save the series with digital restoration, but some reels were simply too red-shifted to shift all the way back to proper color balance.

My mom has a very nice studio quality photograph of my grandfather holding my 1st cousin when she was an infant. It is starting to shift to red. It already has a bit of a magenta tone to it. A lot of our family slides were shot with Kodchrome color film. Many of them have a reddish-purple tint to them. And Kodachrome slides are known to degrade when exposed to bright light.

Careful temp, humidity control, and mildew/mold countermeasures are the only good way to prevent photographic media from degrading. Color film was invented long before affordable indoor air conditioning, so you can appreciate what most early color photos and negatives have been through.

Posted: 12/17/2005 6:17:18 AM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Quoted:

Those (and that process) I'm familiar with. It's the American color photos I was unaware of.

What happened to color film? Those (not the Russian ones, although they have good color too) appear nearly as color-saturated as modern film, and then in the 1950s, which most think of as the advent of modern color film, the color is all washed out. Is it just that old prints and films have faded remarkably, unless taken good care of?

Yes. Unfortunately most early (up until the 1980s) color film media shifts color easily. The next time you watch an episode of MASH, look at it carefully. You will notice an overall reddish or magenta tint. This is because the old 35mm Kodak safety film shifts to red as it degrades. The owners of MASH managed to save the series with digital restoration, but some reels were simply too red-shifted to shift all the way back to proper color balance.

My mom has a very nice studio quality photograph of my grandfather holding my 1st cousin when she was an infant. It is starting to shift to red. It already has a bit of a magenta tone to it. A lot of our family slides were shot with Kodchrome color film. Many of them have a reddish-purple tint to them. And Kodachrome slides are known to degrade when exposed to bright light.

Careful temp, humidity control, and mildew/mold countermeasures are the only good way to prevent photographic media from degrading. Color film was invented long before affordable indoor air conditioning, so you can appreciate what most early color photos and negatives have been through.

I just recently found several boxes of slides in my fathers personal effects (he went into a home).

The vast majority of them are Ektachrome, dating back to 1959-60. The quality of these has not changed a bit. It's quite amazing to scan a slide of you when you are an infant and have it look like a recent photo.

There is a box of Kodachrome. Those have red-shifted.

Posted: 12/17/2005 6:21:26 AM EDT

[#39]

tagged for home, thanks

Posted: 12/17/2005 6:25:36 AM EDT

[#40]

Wow. Amazing to see those pictures of an era that we're used to seeing in B&W. I'll need to rummage through the link to find some hidden gems but the ones others have found are beautiful.

Posted: 12/17/2005 6:27:11 AM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
Seeing Depression era people as they were was a suprise to me- many are well dressed and in bright colors, different than the drab and ragged cloths I imagined them to be wearing...

Library of Congress photo index

In the Depression money was scared but most people still looked presentable.

Today money is everywhere and people dress like trash.

These are a great find. The Color of War was a great show.

There are some pictures of WWI that French photogs took in color. They are mostly of French soldiers of course. I haven't found many on the net though.