Vienna General Hospital, 1900s
Alongside the glass plate of Sanssouci Palace is this ambulatory image: The plate is marked “Hospital Yard, Vienna”. I’m sure there have been many different hospitals in Vienna over the years, but...
View ArticleRushmore In Progress, 1930s.
We’ve got a lot of old photos – almost more than we know what to do with. This one is so over-saturated, so light, that I had to really darken it in Photoshop just to see anything, and I didn’t...
View ArticleFargo Tornado, 1957.
If you’re even somewhat familiar with the Fargo tornado of 1957, you recognize this photo – it’s been in newspapers, it’s part of the Fujita report on the tornado, and it even appears on the NOAA...
View ArticleWhere’s Ward? 1881.
Click on this map to see a bigger version. In 1881, eight years before statehood, this is how the county lines were drawn in north-central North Dakota: Your first question if you’re familiar with...
View Article21st Century Aeroplanists, 1906.
The promise of flying cars and jetpacks in the 21st century has been around a long, long time: here is a comic from the french journal Le Pele-Mele: IN THE YEAR 2006 Aeroplanist to friend: “Just look...
View ArticleGlassless Goggles, 1907
Scientific, automotive, and news publications announced this marvel of modern design in 1907: Can you guess what they are? Yes, they’re goggles, but what doesn’t come across in these images is that...
View ArticleReposts and Aliases, 1884
One thing the internet both rewards and hates at the same time is when someone reposts something, without crediting the source, as their own fresh content, under an alias. Reddit has an entire culture...
View ArticleAmerican Pikelhaube, 1890s
Today’s Dakota Death Trip has a striking soldier in uniform for the Sunday photo; he may seem like the wrong sort of image to post for Memorial Day weekend. Thick mustache, guns stacked to the side,...
View ArticleRequiem For the KKK, 1930s
In the archives for State Senator William Martin — remember him? He suggested North Dakota secede from the US — is this unique image, so unique it bears a mention in the state archives indexes: It’s...
View Article1904: Predicting Skype
It only took a hundred years for this technology to truly take hold for the average person, but they sure understood what it would mean: DEVICE NOT IN DEMAND Some Objections to Proposed Telephone...
View Article