Vintage work crew photos

[Frank S]

Good Story Frank. I did similar with Mom's great recipes (Beautiful handwriting also) and published a small book of Dad's great stories (50yr toastmaster) and saying's for the family after I went through all of his stuff, computer and otherwise. Also did his memorial video of his 80 years of Living Life!

These great pictures that Jon finds and post and our own family photos and treasures have some high word counts worth archiving...when we look at the details and faces, clothing, settings and backgrounds, etc., stories abound, and I for one am grateful at my age to have a few and appreciate those of others...hopefully to pass forward something from our time here for others to gain insight.

PJ

Humans are genetically capable of passing on all accumulated knowledge known from the mother at the inception of our off springs the father's knowledge is imprinted in the gnomes of his chromosomes and dna which is passed on via the sperm cells, However we do not know how to access this knowledge consciously since our brains have not been trained or evolved to the level of being able to access these memories or knowledge.
the human brain has roughly 78 to 92% more power than the average human ever utilizes.
It is my firm conviction that one day should humans not wipe themselves out of existence we may eventually learn to train our brains to much higher levels. and eventually obtain abilities to not only access but also relay to others all of our accumulated knowledge much the dame way we can bluetooth info from our phones.
Until then these threads with the historical pictures and subsequent discussions of them are the best we can hope for right now.

[Jon]

Line of drop hammers in forge shop, Midvale Steel & Ordnance Co. Eddystone, PA Apr. 1918

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[Ralphxyz]

Seems to be a lot of people just standing around watching the line work.

Ralph

[PJs]

The guy half way down the line is giving the camera guy the L@@K! Great pic though, all the way to the grease on the rack and pinions and the guy in the corner with his hands on his hips lookin' like "Well I'll tell ya". A bit of water mold damage a quite scratched but for 100 years old in pretty good shape!

[Jon]

U.S. Naval Gun Factory, Washington Navy Yard, Washington D.C. 1917.

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[Frank S]

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This picture was taken without many of the workers knowing what was going on. note how most are ghosted or slightly blurred while the depth and clarity of the building and machines is great.

[PJs]

Agreed the contrast and lighting is excellent. In 1912 there wasn't much (exposure triangle- shutter speed, aperture and ISO[2006]) adjustment available so ghosting is very common prior to about the mid 40's. People that can shoot and develop this quality of B&W in 1912 were true artists.

Thanks Jon...got that one too...it's a perfect example for something I'm working on!

PJ

[VinnieL]

It is a beautiful photo with great sharp detail that could only be achieved with a very small aperature and longer shutter time. That is probably why the movement is evident in the workers. It is amazing that photos such as these are still around. It is a credit to whomever developed and printed the negatives, washing them properly to archival standards.

[Clockguy]

I hope that some of you, who are not clicking on the "original photo" above the photo that these guys are posting, will take time to look at that original photo. The definition is much clearer, some of these were taken with equipment which modern photographers consider "antique" but the definition of many of the original photos far exceeds the "save" capabilities of our modern digital procedures. Some are probably in their RAW state and can be processed with PhotoShop or some other quality photo editor to further enhance the looks of the image. Just a few thoughts from an old amateur .....

[Clockguy]

The nose of the the USS Akron being attached. The Akron was a helium airship with a frame of Duralumin. In operation in the early 1930s, she went down in a thunderstorm, killing 73 of 76 crewmen and passengers.

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I clearly remember, as a little kid back in the late '40's, pointing up in the sky at our mountain home place north of Harrisburg, PA and asking my dad "What is that, dad??" and he would always reply with "That's the Goodyear Blimp, son." no matter whether it was or not. I only ever saw one of these "blimps" with the word "GOODYEAR" written on its side floating over the mountains toward who knows where west of my birth place. It was a common sight and then ....... somewhere in my growing up years, that sight was gone to me. Sad thought .......

Edit: I sat down, on this rainy Sunday morning here on the "Forgotten Coast" of Florida, to get caught up on some of my interests, one of which is this website's posts. I managed to make it through the first 5 pages of this 31 page thread started by Jon some years ago and I want to thank you Jon for the time and effort you and others have put in on finding and researching information on these wonderful old B/W photos.

I have taken a mental trip through the early part of the "Industrial Revolution" and into my early childhood days in the last few hours, and it has been a welcome addition to what little knowledge I have retained of this time period. At 76 years of age, you would think that I would have narrowed my interests in things of which I have little knowledge, for whatever reason. But, it seems that I have an even stronger thirst for knowing how and when and why we are where we are and what we have become today.

We all have been raised in a "simpler age" no matter when we were born or how we were influenced by our environment and our technology of that time and place. And it is easy to overlook the background of how we have developed into the society and the type of person we are today. It was a much safer time when I was a kid, we rarely locked our doors, we never worried about locking up firearms, dad thought nothing of leaving the keys in our car as us kids sat and waited for him to go buy some bolts at the hardware store on a Saturday morning. We never bothered testing our security systems, checking our night lights or alarms for dead batteries, we did not need these precautions to feel "safe".

I don't doubt that the kids of today feel that they are growing up "simple and safe" as we once felt and they shrug at another one of "dad's stories" or of "grandpa's tales" of when HE was a little kid and actually WALKED a half mile to a school bus stop with other kids to go to school. When taken in the proper context, it all seems relevant to the times we have spent on this planet and the progress we have made and the risks we have had to face to get to this point in our lives. Mass shootings were not an issue, theft and kidnapping and rape were something which were not part of MY early life. I was born in the Appalachian mountains of PA and had not heard the "N" word on a local level until I was 21 and joined the military and saw firsthand what racial prejudice was all about.

My point to this all is we are and will always be students of our lives and our surroundings no matter how widespread our travels or experiences have been. I have gone to places that many men cannot even pronounce and have seen sights which left me in awesome fear and wonderment that one man could do something that cruel to another. I have also seen wonders of life for which I have no explanation. I have gazed upon acts of nature, the most beautiful of which we have no knowledge nor the technology to reproduce today or hopefully ever. And, at the end of each day, I stand in amazement at one most beautiful sunset or another wonderful sight of nature at work, and I pray that I never lose that curiousity and desire to explore. I have found great pleasure in teaching my sons about what they are missing around them each day by challenging them to take a simple square yard of ground, in one of our horse pastures or along the shores of a nearby lake, or in a clearing of a mountain pass and find everything they can which inhabits that square yard. Of course, that challenge dwindled as they grew up and became more adapted to the outdoors and their own adventure seeking abilities grew stronger. But they never forgot to "stop and smell the roses" once in awhile and I like to think that they have challenged others to find out what lies in their own "square yard" of earth in Mother Nature's Backyard.