Shorpy Historic Photo Archive - a walk through time

By: R.K. Barry

Some time ago a colleague suggested I check out a website that features historical photographs. It's called Shorpy. I don't know what that name means, but it appears that members of the site are encouraged to post pictures from their private collection.

The most interesting photos for me tend to be those from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Although this discussion is well beyond my technical knowledge of photography, my colleague informs me that there was a technology developed at that time that allowed for a massive leap forward in the resolution of a picture - something to do with the size of the plates and something called, I think, dry plate glass negatives. Again, I have no idea what I am talking about.

I do, however, strongly encourage you to visit this site. The key is to make sure that you enlarge the photos by clicking on the link at the bottom of each one that says view full size. It makes the pictures quite large while maintaining the resolution. It really makes it seem like you can step into the scene. No kidding. Again, the site is called Shorpy. You can find it here.

The picture above is just something I found randomly. From the caption provided I note that it is Cleveland, Ohio (1911), Euclid Avenue and 105th Street. As you can imagine, this image on the blog does no justice to what the website offers. The link to this specific picture can be found here. Don't forget to enlarge it.

While urban and industrial scenes are quite interesting, the faces in so many of the pictures are also absolutely incredible, especially at high resolution.

If you are like me you will waste a lot of time searching randomly through this site.

(Cross-posted to Lippmann's Ghost)