Water Carts

This isn't the first version of The New Found Photography.  The earlier blog only had so much free bandwidth, after which I would have to buy more.  Because of that, I got in the habit of typing out what was on the back of photos.  Anyway, I'll still try and figure out the hand written stuff and then hunt and peck my way through a translation.  But, I'm done with transcribing stuff like this, so click on the text and read about captured water carts for yourself. 

So, another stereo card from T.W. Ingersoll, this one from the Russo-Japanese War.  1904-1905, the first time an Asian power defeated one from Europe, that is if Russia could actually be called a real power.  Not even the Russian alliance with Montenegro could save them.

Mother Russia

In the time of the Czars!  Everyone knows about the Kremlin.  The Peterhof Palace is on the outskirts of St. Petersberg, Peter the Great's choice for a new capital for a western looking Russia.  During World War 2, the building was occupied by the invading German armies and was heavily damaged.  Restoration began almost immediately, and has yet to be completed.  Trump would love the place.  There's gold leaf everywhere.  The preference of aspiring autocrats.

Russland 4

I've saved my favorite for last.  Literally, the second photo in the column is my favorite.  That second photo is dated "16 VI 18," a date well within the revolution.  When the pictures in this series  were taken, it was still possible to get out.  It was also possible to get shot for being in the wrong party, or the wrong class.  Since these photos  made it to the United States, I'm guessing that most, if not all of the people in these pictures headed west and avoided the worst of the Stalinist terror.  Take a close look at the top picture.  The man on the right is holding a pair of binoculars.  Was he watching birds, or was he watching for Bolsheviks?

There is a movie, directed by Joseph Von Sternberg, that's supposedly based on a real person.  In The Last Command, Emil Jannigs played a Russian general who works as a movie extra in Hollywood.  I've never seen it, but as a silent movie fan, I hope to.

Anyway, click on Russland in labels to see the rest.

Russland 3

A few more faded prints.  The top one looks like people gathering food.  That makes sense.  With a date of "19 X 19" that puts things at a time when there was a lot of hunger in Russia.  It's impossible to tell, but I'm thinking apples and people from the land owning class at their country dacha.  The military uniform in the second picture makes one wonder.  I haven't seen any indication of these people's political leaning.  No pictures of the Tsar, Kerensky, or Lenin in the background of any of these images.  I would, however, be surprised if the people in this collection turned out to be leftists of any kind.

Click on Russland, etc.

Russland 2

As I noted in the first post from this series, the quality of the prints are not the best.  I did what I could to pull some detail from the second picture but it was just two faded to get much.  All the prints are mounted on card.  There's no date on the top image, the bottom, as can be seen written on the print, "11 XI 20."

Click on Russland in labels, etc. What's with the water pitchers?  Or are they vodka pitchers?

Russland 1

I just purchased an envelope of eight photos from Russia (Via Florida)  that I'l be posting in lots of two over the next week or so.  Some are still in a half way decent condition, some are so faded as to be barely recognizable as photographs; some are dated, some are not, but they all seem to be from the same general era.  And, even though they are all around a hundred years old, they still reek of cigarette smoke.

The top photo is dated "30 XI 21" in the European style of date, month and year.  The second,  "11 XII 21."  Russia was a late adapter of the Gregorian calendar, so even though the days might be from the archaic Julian calendar, the years should sync up with modern day usage.

Note on the second photo one woman is being fed by another.

Click on Russland in labels.

The Young Nurse

Or maybe she's a candy striper.   I have no idea. In any case, there's some sort of document on the wall with the Russian Double Eagle, symbol of the Czars.