Saturday, April 7, 2012

Easter Brains




I've been searching through the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online Catalog for photographs of Easter. Initially, I was looking for Easter images of Buffalo which there are many particularly religious ceremonies with the Polish community but none that resonate with my own experiences as a kid. Instead, I found these images taken by Bain agency. Initially I thought the scans were made from duplicate preservation prints and not the original glass negatives which is unfortunate. Duplicate prints do not represent the glass negative's fantastic depth of field and always eviscerate the essence of the image. But looking over the images' catalog records, I see the scans were indeed made from the original 5 x 7 inch glass negatives. Regardless, it is very comforting to see Union Square look very much the same complete with shoppers selecting their Easter flowers.

LOC dates the photographs April 18, 1908. No restrictions on the images.