The 100 Year Old Photoblog

March 19, 2007 2:35 PM

Shorpyis an unusual photoblog; billed as "the 100-year-old photography blog," it focuses on found images from many, many decades gone by. Some favorites, so far.
posted by jonson (26 comments total)

Found via Postroad's exceedingly NSFW blog.
posted by jonson at 2:46 PM on March 19, 2007

Outstanding. Thanks!
posted by ardgedee at 2:59 PM on March 19, 2007

Wow. Wow. Awesome. *jumps up and down*

Thanks! I only wish there were more photographs on the site-- will eagerly watch this as it grows.
posted by jokeefe at 3:17 PM on March 19, 2007

Awesome. Thanks, jonson. I love stuff like this; there's so much period detail when you enlarge them - baskets and buckets on the lines, rolled up mattresses...kids smoking...
posted by mediareport at 3:28 PM on March 19, 2007

Wow, that's awesome!
posted by notsnot at 3:49 PM on March 19, 2007

Wow. Great link. Thanks.
posted by davetill at 4:02 PM on March 19, 2007

That guy holding the rats is the same dude pictured on the cover of John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise. Cool.
posted by tristeza at 4:04 PM on March 19, 2007

I definitely had to bookmark this site....it would have sucked up my whole work day!!
posted by lil' ears at 4:14 PM on March 19, 2007

Love it. Thanks!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:17 PM on March 19, 2007

Oh, wow. Ohhhhh, wow. This is fabulous. Thank you so much for this link!

My night will be shot by the time I go through this entire webpage. The detail in some of these photographs are amazing, as commented above.
posted by bristolcat at 4:42 PM on March 19, 2007

Very nice. Thanks. The rat-catcher guy sure as heck stands out on Postroad's blog, though.

Hmmm... boobies... cheesecake... boobies.... water-play... nice. nice... boobies... guy holding up a string of dead rats.... boobies... hey! wait just a rat-catchin' minute there!
posted by mmahaffie at 4:42 PM on March 19, 2007

wow thanks - you gave me my new wallpaper (the lovely trainyard).
posted by django_z at 4:50 PM on March 19, 2007

Look how tiny those rats are! It's almost...cute? Today's rats would eat a ferret alive.
posted by spicynuts at 7:25 PM on March 19, 2007

looks good thnks
posted by radsqd at 7:38 PM on March 19, 2007

Not to be redundant but great post
posted by archaic at 7:45 PM on March 19, 2007

Adding my name to the roster of people who think this is great!
posted by amyms at 8:01 PM on March 19, 2007

Fantastic. "Home Depot" photo can be found in the book, Bound for Glory, New Deal era color photos.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/boundforglory/glory-exhibit.html
posted by wallstreet1929 at 8:25 PM on March 19, 2007

That trainyard photo is one of the greatest photographs I've ever seen. To be taken in 1943 it borders on magical.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:14 PM on March 19, 2007

Fantastic find - the trainyard photo is just gorgeous.
posted by your mildly obsessive average geek at 2:32 AM on March 20, 2007

Love it! Bookmarked.
posted by algreer at 4:23 AM on March 20, 2007

Awesome! Wouldn't it be grand if we could find out how the lives of these young working kids continued.
posted by Harry at 7:59 AM on March 20, 2007

Harry: Actually, I would be quite afraid to find out the result of their lives.

Because for a great many, especially the coal mining ones, I fear the outcomes would not have been particularly pleasant.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:52 AM on March 20, 2007

Awesome! Wouldn't it be grand if we could find out how the lives of these young working kids continued.

emphysema, probably.
posted by the cuban at 11:43 AM on March 20, 2007

This is the reason Labor History must be taught in the schools. These children would have died and would have been replaced by new ones had Labor Rerformers (i.e. Mary Harris Jones) not stood up against our government and the bosses.

Unfortunately, business practice has created an environment where children must work in mines and factories even now, one hundred years later.

Perhaps that could cease if as consumers we did not consume so much. These new working children could go to school and their families could make a decent wage off their only resource, the land.
posted by dubious_at_best at 1:31 PM on March 20, 2007

I wonder how he's paying for the bandwidth for those huge jpgs. I added this to my browser's autostarts.
posted by Dave Faris at 7:06 PM on March 20, 2007

(Oh, and if you get tired of looking at all the genre pictures, be sure and check out all the knock-your-socks off websites listed on the right, under "Pardners.")
posted by Dave Faris at 7:13 PM on March 20, 2007