
A duo who documented the birth of NYC’s subway - prismatic
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/photographs-new-york-city-subways
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mxuribe
I'm astounded by the interesting material that Atlas Obscura reports on; they
make history that much more fun to learn about!

Also, is this a German flag (alongside the U.S. flag) at the top of a "Chop
Suey" sign (lower-left section of the photo)?? If so, why a German flag???
[https://assets.atlasobscura.com/article_images/lg/73195/imag...](https://assets.atlasobscura.com/article_images/lg/73195/image.jpg)

Finally...

> "...A lot of the people in these photographs, we’ll never know their
> names... "

My hope with facial recognition technology - and in my opinion one of the
very, very few acceptable/responsible uses of this tech. - is when descendants
of these workers can pair their own family photos with these publicly-
available photos to learn more about their own families, but also - if they so
choose - to share the names of these anonymous workers with the world (to give
them the credit that they so richly deserve for building our essential
infrastructure).

~~~
dhathorn
It's a chinese flag, the old republic of china flag. Also known as the five
races flag.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Races_Under_One_Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Races_Under_One_Union)

~~~
mxuribe
Ah-ha, weird, after immediately seeing the flag, I went to Wikipedia...but on
the Chinese flags page they didn't list the flag that you found...which does
answer the mystery for me! Thanks!

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tomcam
> Sometimes they’d walk down a block and stop to take a photograph every 10 or
> 15 feet.

Sort of a Google Streets predecessor

~~~
ConsiderCrying
Correct me if I'm wrong but that's still the way Google Street View is updated
in some of the more remote places, either ones that Google doesn't deign
visiting or those inaccessible by its camera car.

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bronipstid
It's hard for me to imagine New York City being so safe and relaxed about
security that no one had a problem letting any old dude with a camera into
underground construction sites to take pictures.

~~~
jackfoxy
Also note not a hard-hat in sight. This is on the eve of modern attitudes
towards workplace safety, which got a big boost from reporting on worker
deaths associated with the Hoover Dam project.

~~~
kevin_thibedeau
There are hard hats on display in this exhibition if you go to the museum.

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shmerl
_> Portions of the brothers’ vast archive are on display at the New York
Transit Museum through January 21, 2021._

They should put all these photos on-line.

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ThePowerOfFuet
Is there a copy on a site that doesn't have a cookie wall?

~~~
jedberg
Accepting the cookie is the price you pay for the content.

You can always use Firefox containers to maintain your privacy.

