08 December 2006

Looking Back: New Old Photographs


By chance I came across these two collections of photos from the 30s and 40s. They both candidly reveal a very different America. It gave me pause to think about an 8mm film I'd seen years ago when I had gone with a friend to visit his grandparents. The color film was of New York in the late 1940s or early 50s and was fascinating. It's one thing to see a city represented in a Hollywood film but quite another in a home movie. It is in some ways more magical because it is evidence made by someone you know and trust. Of course, the stories that accompany a viewing help make it vividly real.

The comments on both these collections work similarly.

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