photosbymygrandfather

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Ramsau, Germany (by tsomchat) 

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Ansel Adams is the patron saint of black and white landscape photography, but did you know he was something of an activist in the 1940s? 

When the U.S. government sent thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during WW2, Adams traveled to one in California to document the injustice. 

Rare Photos by Ansel Adams Taken in a Japanese Internment Camp

via Slate

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Blog Deletion

This is my fond farewell to those of you still following this blog. In about a week or so, this blog will be deactivated (it is unfortunately attached to a personal blog that I feel the need to delete as I enter the job market). The good news is that I have compiled these photos and the information I learned about them while running this blog and placed them on a website, which you can find here.

Thank you for your comments and encouragement over the years!

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Okay so here’s the lowdown. I found 4 sets of medium format negatives while I was thrift shop hunting a few weeks ago. They were sitting in a box of old vintage photographs in these plastic sleeves, and from what I could tell, they had been taken sometime in the 50’s. So obviously I brought them home, and today finally had them scanned in, and holy wow they are beautiful!!

NOW this is where I need the Internet’s help. I would absolutely love to find the women in these photographs/the photographer who took them. The only info I have is that the negatives were found in a thrift store on Hull St in Richmond, VA. They are medium format, and judging by the style of dress, made in 1940-1950. The owner of the thrift store had no idea where they came from. I’m posting the best/clearest scans of the images, so if y'all could reblog the shit out of this, I’m hoping we can find the owners of these amazing images.

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Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

January 27 marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. 

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era.

From 1940 to 1945, more than 1.1 million men, women and children were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp. 90% of them were Jews. All were innocent. Today, we remember

Never Again.

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Bastogne, Belgium-Weary infantrymen of the 110th Regt., 28th Div., US 1st Army following the German breakthrough in that area. The enemy overran their battalion. (L-R) Pvt. Adam H. Davis and T/S Milford A. Sillars. Dec. 19, 1944

From the series: Photographs of American Military Activities, ca. 1918 - ca. 1981

Two days later the town of Bastogne and its American defenders would  find themselves surrounded and under siege as advancing German forces sought to control the town’s vital crossroads during the Battle of the Bulge.

More on the Battle of the Bulge at Prologue: “The Bloodiest Battle - The Battle of the Bulge Loomed Large 70 Winters Ago” →

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WWII army mail pouch with souvenir photos inside. Found in an attic trunk along with love letters from a soldier to his girlfriend back home.

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Off Limits To Troops. Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, August 1944.

Photograph by Robert Capa.

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D-Day on Omaha Beach, Normandy, June 6th, 1944.

Photographs by Robert Capa.

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True Romance: The Heartache of Wartime Farewells, April 1943 by Alfred Eisenstaedt at the height of the Second World War.

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Historic Black and White Pictures Restored in Color

1. Women Delivering Ice, 1918

2. Times Square, 1947

3. Portrait Used to Design the Penny. President Lincoln Meets General McClellan – Antietam, Maryland ca September 1862

4. Marilyn Monroe, 1957

5. Newspaper boy Ned Parfett sells copies of the evening paper bearing news of Titanic’s sinking the night before. (April 16, 1912)

6. Easter Eggs for Hitler, c 1944-1945

7. Sergeant George Camblair practicing with a gas mask in a smokescreen – Fort Belvoir, Virginia, 1942

8. Helen Keller meeting Charlie Chaplin in 1919

9. Painting WWII Propaganda Posters, Port Washington, New York – 8 July 1942

10. Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge ca 1935

See the rest here: http://noarmycanstopanidea.com/20-historic-black-and-white-pictures-restored-in-color/

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Soldier and puppy, France, circa 1944.

It’s obviously “Old photos of men holding puppies" week.

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Why should you cast your vote for Executive Order 9981 to be displayed first?

More than one million African American men—and thousands of African American women—served in the U.S. military in segregated units across the globe during World War II.

President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order (EO) 9981 on July 26, 1948.

The Executive Order stated that it was “essential that there be maintained in the armed service of the United States the highest standards of democracy.” These standards included “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”

Read more about what led President Truman—grandchild of slave owners—to sign this order on the Prologue blog.

Image: “Seeking to rescue a Marine who was drowning in the surf at Iwo Jima, this sextet of Negro soldiers narrowly missed death themselves when their amphibian truck was swamped by heavy seas. From left to right, back row, they are T/5 L. C. Carter, Jr., Private John Bonner, Jr., Staff Sergeant Charles R. Johnson. Standing, from left to right, are T/5 A. B. Randle, T/5 Homer H. Gaines, and Private Willie Tellie”, 03/11/1945 

Image: Pages one and two of EO 9981

Image: President Harry S. Truman (front row, fifth from right) and Secretary of the Army Frank Pace (front row, fourth from right) with members of the integrated 82nd Airborne in the Rose Garden behind the White House in February, 1951. (Truman Presidential Library, 63-1162-05)

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For many, photographs from World War 2 have been seen only in grainy black and white. But new colour images have emerged that show the full horror of the destruction inflicted by Nazi bombers during “The Blitz” in London. The capital sustained 76 continuous nights of attacks, from September 1940 to May 1941, which obliterated more than one million homes killed about 40,000 people The powerful images were released to mark the 70th anniversary of the launch of Winston Churchill’s ‘V for Victory’ campaign on July 19, 1941.

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WWII produced a massive archive of photographs from the front lines, but back at home, a whole other world was developing to support the troops.

The New York Historical Society has a new exhibition of rare photographs from NYC during the war. These never before seen photos are up at Nolan Park on Governors Island until September 2, 2013.

Unseen Photos of New York City During WWII on Display

via Reddit

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Dean Putney inherited a vast archive of over 1000 prints his great-grandfather captured in WWI. On top of that, what makes the find truly special is that many of the original negatives are in pristine condition.

Dean is crowd-funding a project to print a high-quality photo book using the preserved negatives.

Kickstarter Shows WWI Through a German Officer’s Photos

Thanks Willa Koerner!

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In 1941, the U.S. began to form a hand-picked army to fight in Europe. What made it different is that its troops were composed of artists, designers, actors, meteorologists, and sound technicians, and their true mission was not to fight, but to deceive the German army. Their props were inflatable tanks and pyrotechnics; their tools camouflage, “spoof” radio plays, special effects, and sonic deception. Their last “disappearing act” was to vanish from history. Officially they were designated as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, the first and last battlefield deception outfit ever authorized by the U.S. Army.