Early Modern Dance: From the New York Public Library on Flickr

Early Modern Dance: The Denishawn Collection   These are from the 68 images in the Denishawn Collection on the Flickr Commons. Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn established the Denishawn School in 1915.

Ruth St. Denis in Radha.
Digital ID: DEN_0032V. ca. 1906

Ruth St. Denis in Radha.
Digital ID: DEN_0074V. Sarony, Otto — Photographer. 1908.

Ruth St. Denis in Radha at the housewarming of Frank Haven.
Digital ID: DEN_0090V. ca. 1910

Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in Egyptian Ballet.
Digital ID: DEN_0183

Digital ID: DEN_0370V. Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in an out-of-doors photo, in costume, for National Geographic Magazine, April 1916, reprinted May 1951.. 1915.

Digital ID: DEN_0664V. Ted Shawn in Cosmic Dance of Siva during Ziegfield Follies Tour.. 1928

Haunted Postcards from the New York Public Library and Flickr

Something seasonal this way comes: selections from the set “Haunted Postcards,” one of many provided to the Flickr Commons by the New York Public Library:

Look at the kid getting trampled — what a piggy face!

Here’s a lovely couple:

I had not known of this tradition:

Disappointments may follow this test. You’ve been warned:

Flickr Commons: Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands, 2

More from the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands collections in the Flickr Commons.

Winter fashions are featured in one set, Herfst- en wintermode / Autumn- and winter fashion, and winter sports in another:

Wintermode 1914 / Winter fashion 1914

 

Ski-zeilen / Ski-sailing, ‘Ski-sailing’, a new sport invented in Austria, demonstrated in St. Moritz, Switzerland, January 1938.

Then there are some sets of other nations and places, such as Japan and New York City:

Bedelmonnik / Mendicant. Mendicant with staff, begging bowl and pointed hat. [Photo, hand coloured albumine, from series of 42 prints at Spaarnestad Photo by Felice Beato, Kusakabe Kimbei or Raimund baron von Stillfried. Japan, around 1868-1874.]

Luchtfoto Manhattan / Aerial photograph of Manhattan.
Aerial photograph of Manhattan, New York (10.000 feet). The street pattern is based on the (in those days) revolutionairy parce; pattern of the Dutch municipality Beemster polder.

And then there are a number of images of WWI and WWII; here are some from the First World War.

Eerste Wereldoorlog, mobilisatie. First World War, mobilization, declaration of war: a group of soldiers with a cloth to throw one of them into the air during preparations for the battle at the front. England, 1915

 

Eerste Wereldoorlog, loopgraven. First World War. A French soldier wearing a kind of armour as protection against flying bullets above the trench. France, 1915.

 

Eerste Wereldoorlog, oefening Eton College. The Great War. First World War, mobilization, declaration of war: pupils of Eton college exercising in suit and high hat, rifle over the shoulder. England, 1915.

 

Eerste Wereldoorlog, legerhond sergeant Stubby. The Great War. First World War, United States of America, the American army dog Stubby, rank of sergeant. Stubby died in 1926.

 

Eerste Wereldoorlog, krijgsgevangenen. The Great War. First World War, Russian army. The Russians teaching the German prisoners of war the cossack dance. The Eastern front, Russia, 1915.

 

Eerste Wereldoorlog, luchtoorlog. The Great War. First World War. German Taube-plane hunted down by a French plane with a machine gun. France, 1914.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flickr Commons: Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands

Here are a few items from the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands collections in the Flickr Commons.

Can’t get enough of zeppelins and balloons, one of the collections from this source.

Santos-Dumont vaart met een zeppelin langs de Eiffeltoren / Zeppelin passing the Eiffel Tower
SFA003000116

 

‘Allo Spaceboy!

“Ruimtepak” voor stratosfeerballon / Space suit for stratospheric balloon, 1935

 

Zeppelin bij Empire State Building in aanbouw / Zeppelin near the Empire State Building under construction. The American airship ZR 3 Los Angeles flying near the Empire State Building under construction. The Zeppelin, built as LZ 126, is accompanied by some blimps. New York, the United States of America, 29 October 1930.

Another collection deals with tobacco:

Smokkelen van sigaretten in een boek /Smuggling cigarettes in a book. Germany, 1932.

Automaat voor brandende sigaretten / Cigarette machine delivering burning cigarettes for a penny. England, 1931.

Another, called Allerzielen, Allerheiligen / All Souls’ Day, All Saints’ Day, features graves.

Graven van Vincent en Theo van Gogh. The graves of the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) and his brother Theo [Theodore] van Gogh (1857-1891) at the churchyard in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. Photo out of 1927.

Another focuses on “new life”:

Uit ei gebroken kuiken/Chick facing daylight for the first time, 1936.

Inventions, some stranger than others:

Houten badpakken /Wooden bathing suits, supposed to make swimming a lot easier. Haquian, Washington, USA, 1929

 

Eénwielige motorfiets / One wheel motor cycle. Invented by Italian M. Goventosa de Udine. Maximum speed: 150 kilometers per hour ( 93 Mph).

Gasaanvalbestendige kinderwagen / Gas war resistant pram, England, Hextable, 1938.

 

 

 

Flickr Commons: National Archives, UK. Famous People.

I’ve been neglecting the blog because I moved house, to a new state: a major change. But I’m picking up where I left off.

Here are some shots of famous folks from the 20th Century Photographs set in the  National Archives, United Kingdom on the Flickr Commons.

Miss Hepburn on set
“Miss Katherine [sic] Hepburn & Mr. Mike Owen, Manager, taken during the filming of the T.V. Film of ‘The Corn is Green’ “. Bersham Colliery, Wrexham.
http://flic.kr/p/97rxRy

Photographs of Eric Blair (George Orwell) from his Metropolitan Police file. c.1940 http://flic.kr/p/5A2uxN

 

Princess Elizabeth at a Trooping of the Colour ceremony for her father George VI. c.1950. http://flic.kr/p/5CZRaw

 

Chamberlain and Il Duce. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain receives the red carpet treatment in Rome from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. January 1939. http://flic.kr/p/5zMp9B

 

“Lord Baden-Powell, the Chief Scout, at his home, Pax Hill, Bentley, Hants. Close up at ‘personal’ desk in study”. Photograph taken by John Dixon Scott. c. 1926-39. http://flic.kr/p/8t3C1k

 

Actress and socialite Lillie Langtry photographed by William Downey (1829-1915). August 1885. http://flic.kr/p/8t3C1k

 

Future Prime Minister Anthony Eden painted while Foreign Secretary by William Little. WWII. http://flic.kr/p/6CwGmS

 

Signed photograph of General Charles de Gaulle, future president of the French Republic, extracted from a file on the Czech assault on Dunkirk. 1945. http://flic.kr/p/6CwGn1

Flickr Commons: Transportation and Exploration from the National Archives, UK

There are hundreds of public domain images in the Flickr Commons contributed by the National Archives of the United Kingdom. There are three collections: Africa Through a Lens; Artwork, Artifacts and Documents; and Photography.

Today’s images are from sets within the Photography Collection.

 

German Graf Zeppelin flies over St. Paul's Cathedral while on a press visit to London. 1930. http://flic.kr/p/8JJzmx

A British made Cierva Autogiro flies over Manhattan Island. The brainchild of Spanish aeronautical engineer Juan de la Cierva, the autogyro was developed in the early 1920s. http://flic.kr/p/74b56X

Hiram Maxim's Glider
The Anglo-American inventor of the machine gun, Sir Hiram Maxim experimented unsuccessfully with powered flight during much of the 1890s. In 1911 he established a company to develop military aircraft with Louis Blériot, the first man to fly across the English Channel and engineer Claude Grahame White, one of Britain's first qualified pilots. c.1915
http://flic.kr/p/7hPrmA

Fighter squadron in formation. Photograph from the log book of RAF Squadron Leader B.J.E. Lane. 1940-2. http://flic.kr/p/8t3C1R

Photograph from the Trench Warfare Section of the Ministry of Munitions showing a man wearing breathing apparatus against gas attack. WWI. http://flic.kr/p/5Rc3AV

In the early 20th century sailing ships would compete to be the first to bring a grain cargo from Australia to the UK. Built in 1911 S.V. Passat was the winner of the final race in 1949/50, reaching Penarth, Wales in four months. Its cargo of wheat was destined for the mills of Methodist mill owner and film magnate J. Arthur Rank. http://flic.kr/p/8JJk6r

 

'With Captain Scott to the South Pole (British Antarctic Expedition)'. Steam Yacht 'Terra Nova' with dogs on Ice at side.'
"This image shows a single frame from the very short (3-4 frame) sections of nitrate film stock accessioned at The National Archives from Herbert Ponting's footage of the Antarctic." c.1911.
http://flic.kr/p/9EMMDe

Flickr Commons: Stockholm Transport Museum

These images from the Flickr Commons are in the photostream provided by the Stockholm Transport Museum.

Artificial limbs aren’t what immediately come to mind when thinking of photos from a transportation museum, but they certainly do provide a means of movement.

Aftermath of the second world war. Shop window in London 1946. http://flic.kr/p/aDK9gJ

Also in London, a nice view of double-decker buses.

Victoria bus station in London in 1927.
http://flic.kr/p/agqEGX

Elevator in the London underground. http://flic.kr/p/aDdJii

This next one is interesting: old means facilitating new.

Installation of trolley bus wires with horse-drawn carriage assembly 1944. By Börje Gallén. http://flic.kr/p/ahH4i5

I like how you can see the snow fall in this next shot:

Stureplan, Stockholm in the winter of 1957. By Gunnar Ekelund. http://flic.kr/p/agqFGM

Trams on Stureplan in Stockholm in 1949. By Gunnar Ekelund. http://flic.kr/p/agtqib

Flickr Commons: National Media Museum, UK. Part 2

More from the National Media Museum, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom’s eclectic group of subsets in the Flickr Commons.

First, one of 12 sequential photographs by Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) from a set called  “Joanna Quinn Selects.” Quinn is an animator.

'Cockatoo flying', 1887, Eadweard Muybridge

From “Animals”:

Cat and Dog Jumping. by Arthur Clive Banfield (1875-1965)

The Museum notes that this is a chronophoto: “Frozen in motion using bright lights of electrical sparks created from Leyden jars.”

You never know when you might need a picture of a “yawning koala bear”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/3589381656/

or an old English black rat:

by Douglas English (died 1939).

One from “Snapping Dogs” set:

Reference print for 'Hound of the Baskervilles'. Photographer unknown.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/308487696

and from “Human Expressions”:

'Expression of Joy' from 'The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals' London 1872. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

'Expressions of Grief' from 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals' London 1872. Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flickr Commons: National Media Museum, UK

The National Media Museum, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom has an eclectic group of subsets in the Flickr Commons. Here are some examples.

The first 4 are among 22 “from two albums entitled ‘Official Australian War Photographs’, produced by the Australian War Records Section, established by the British government in 1917. These photographs are probably the work of official photographers James Francis (Frank) Hurley and George Hubert Wilkins.”

Taken September 27, 1917, Western Front: Western Front (Belgium), Menin Road Area Garter Point

Caption from AWM: "Supporting troops of the 1st Australian Division walking on a duckboard track near Hooge, in the Ypres Sector. They form a silhouettte against the sky as they pass towards the front line to relieve their comrades, whose attack the day before won Broodseinde Ridge and deepened the Australian advance. Taken October 5, 1917, at Western Front (Belgium), Menin Road Area, Hooge."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/3007145787/

It’s hard to know what to place after these — and they are not the starkest and most disturbing of the set of WWI photos in this stream.

But these will do. They are from a group of 16 called, “Don McCullin Selects.” McCullin, a contemporary British photographer, selected these works from the National Media Museum’s collection to accompany an exhibition of his own photos of archaeological remains around the Mediterranean. Other images feature Pompeii, Rome, Greece, and Lebanon.

Francis Frith (1822-1898); 'Sculptures in the Great Temple, Philae', 1857

Karnak - The Amon Temple. By Lehnert & Landrock of Cairo (Rudolf Lehnert (1878-1948) & Ernst Landrock (1878-1966)); about 1925

There are 20 pictures in Kodak No.1 Circular Snapshots, the first point and shoot camera. Introduced in 1888, it produced 2.5″ diameter circular images.

Woman in a rowing boat, about 1890

Hansom cab, 1888

Taxes!

Interrupting the Flickr flow for a search of images related to tax time. From the Library of Congress:

"The free American citizen" / J. Norman Lynd. 1912. LC-DIG-ppmsca-27878

 

Thedmore sank into the chair, his face was hidden in his hands. LC-USZC2-1644

 

cai 2a1548

These are from the National Archives:

Christmas Lists and Tax Returns by Clifford Berryman, 1920. ARC Identifier 6011650 /

 

Calculating New Income Tax, 02/07/1919 by Clifford Berryman. ARC Identifier 6011549

ARC Identifier 516201