

Early 1900s in Colour - helwr
http://citynoise.org/article/10598

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chaosmachine
Here's my favorite collection of old color photographs, The Cushman
Collection:

[http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/browse/yearBrowse.js...](http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/browse/yearBrowse.jsp)

 _"Charles Weever Cushman, amateur photographer and Indiana University
alumnus, bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome color slides to his alma
mater. The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from
1938 to 1969, during which time he extensively documented the United States as
well as other countries."_

One of my favorites:

[http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/cushman/full/P02...](http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/cushman/full/P02219.jpg)

The collection can be a bit overwhelming, but for a good overview, look here:

<http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=142692>

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jarek
In related spirit, colour photographs of early 1900s tsarist Russia by
Prokudin-Gorsky are also pretty amazing.

Edit: and most if not all are in public domain. Sample:
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Mikhailovich_Prokud...](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Mikhailovich_Prokudin-
Gorskii)

~~~
ginkgo
I wanted to post the same thing. The quality of those pictures is incredible.

You can find all reconstructed images here:
<http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/>

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mburney
Amazing. The past doesn't even seem much like the past when it is in colour.

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lsb
If you start to read Latin and Ancient Greek, you'll get a sense that human
beings have had most of the same mundane concerns for the past thousands of
years. Some of the love poetry of Catullus, for example, sounds like it could
have been written by a precocious tween.

~~~
mahmud
What about those of us who speak undead languages? 1000 year old Arabic reads
like any other modern formal essay. It's really hard to let go of the past
when it's so vividly present. We hold grudges against nations and tribes that
no longer exist.

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mynameishere
What makes pictures like these seem alien is the clothing. Back then, even
farmers dressed better than people today.

~~~
joss82
Or, getting taken in a picture was so rare than people dressed well for it.

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delackner
Most of us in our best clothes would not compare favourably to the richness on
display by these average people in their best dress.

However, I wonder how much variety of style was worn in previous generations.
Certainly within the span of living memory the current period is the most
vividly variegated explosion of unrestrained style, but that is only compared
to the monotone conformism of post-war industrialism.

Were there perhaps places and times before us with a similar or higher level
of embracing stylistic inventiveness?

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darkAsPitch
Can anybody explain exactly what is happening in this picture from Mongolia?
<http://citynoise.org/upload/42145.jpg>

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edj
The 4th comment reads: "That picture appeared in the May '22 NatGeo with the
caption 'A Mongolian Woman Condemned to Die of Starvation'"

~~~
hugh3
Wow, now that's cruel. I notice there's bowls around the ground -- did they
place food where she couldn't reach it just for extra cruelty's sake?

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spudlyo
These photographs are over 100 years old, yet they still have someone's
obnoxious copyright on them. Intellectual property makes me sick.

~~~
stse
If I'm counting correctly these photographs still retain copyright to the end
of the year (in Sweden), as Albert Kahn died in 1940. Copyright in Sweden is
generally uphold up until 70 years after authors death.

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joss82
All the pictures from the Musée Albert Kahn are actually autochromes. I found
the way of making those technically very interesting:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autochrome>

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andyjdavis
Its sounds odd but I sometimes find it a little upsetting looking at old
photos for what might be an unusual reason. I want to warn the people in them
about stuff. For example when I got to the photo taken in Cambodia all I could
think was "the poor bastards alive then had no idea the nightmare that was
waiting for them and their children" meaning what happened under Khmer Rouge.

The annoying one way nature of time bothers me. lol. think I might be going
crazy.

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rywang
Part of what makes the pictures so striking is that I constantly have to
remind myself these are not modern men and women in costume.

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adrianwaj
Those were the days when the sun never set on the British Empire.

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julio_the_squid
Wonderful pictures. It's so different in color.

What I'm wondering is what was Obama doing in Spain as a young boy?
<http://citynoise.org/upload/42155.jpg>

~~~
dzorz
Getting tan?

