ClicksyPicsWiggle animations and anything old timey!

Note that I am in no way supporting any of the subjects in these images.  They were chosen because they are historically interesting, and in some cases very sad.

Here are some of my favorite old photographs, chosen because they are strange and unique.

No date given - Bathing Machines, Scheveningen

The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 19th century, to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls; others had canvas walls over a wooden frame.

The bathing machine was part of sea-bathing etiquette more rigorously enforced upon women than men but to be observed by both sexes among those who wished to be “proper”.

Especially in Britain, men and women were usually segregated, so nobody of the opposite sex might catch sight of them in their bathing suits, which (although modest by modern standards) were not considered proper clothing to be seen in.

WIKI Source

between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915 - Lanander, Chi. - Sweden

I don’t think I’ve added any from this series.  Auto polo went on from about 1904 to about 1915, if I’m remembering my research correctly.  There were several matches, one in St. Louis, one in Madison Square Gardens.  There’s not much online about this, but there’s a great NY Times article here.  I strongly agree with the writer in that they would have a difficult time recruiting people for this sport….  Not to be outmatched, we come to:

Taken sometime in the 1910′s, this is an ice auto from Deluth.  Wonder what happens when they lean back?

“1910-1915 - Licking blocks of ice on a hot day.”  Refreshing, and sanitary!

Apparently used to listen for incoming planes.  And to make new recruits look silly.

1907 (?) - Tatoos or body ink

1911 - German stowaway.  This photo came from a Ellis Island collection.

The above image was taken in 1889 after the Johnstown Flood, and demonstrates that sarcasm is not a new thing.

Early waterboarding…. “1861-1872 - Man lies on cot under bed cover, his bandaged head rests in wooden apparatus with straps designed to elevate and cool head while allowing moisture from bandages to drip in basin below head”.

I daresay it would have worked on me.  “Oh, How I Love The Old Flag. Rebecca, A Slave Girl from New Orleans.  [Propaganda portrait of Rebecca, A Slave Girl from New Orlean...] (1864)”

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I think all of these came from the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog from the Library of Congress.  Great stuff in there.  Mostly public domain.

One of the great things about old photos is often they teach you something you did not know.  For instance, escaped or captured slaves were called “contraband” during the civil war.  It started with a group of slaves at Fort Monroe in Virginia.  They were contracted out by their owners at Sewell’s Point to do work for the confederate army.  They took a skiff to nearby Fort Monroe seeking asylum from Union forces.   Because Virginia had seceded from the union, the commander at Fort Monroe declared that the law of returning slaves no longer applied.  In 1861 the escaped slaves began receiving regular payment from the army for their work.   By the end of 1865 there was a “contraband” city of over 10,000 people outside Fort Monroe.  Though this wasn’t the first time the term “contraband” was used to describe escaped slaves, it was the beginning of it being the popular term.  Below is an animated stereo card, likely of some of the Fort Monroe contraband city’s inhabitants.