An Open Knowledge Foundation Site
logo Planet Open Knowledge

You are browsing the archive for Images-20th.

Wear Celluloid Collars and Cuffs (ca.1870)

- November 7, 2013 in Boston Public Library, collections, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, Flickr: the Commons, Images, Images-20th, Underlying Work: No Known Copyright Restrictions

A charming set of 19th Century American trade cards, advertising - via the medium of a frog and gnome-like character - collars and cuffs made of a waterproof linen (celluloid).

Comments Off on Wear Celluloid Collars and Cuffs (ca.1870)

Photographs from a séance with Eva Carrière (1913)

- October 31, 2013 in Boston Public Library, collections, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, eva carrière, fraud, harry price, hoax, Images, Images-20th, Images-People, Images-Photography, Internet Archive, occult, seance, spirit photography, spiritualism, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide

This remarkable series of photographs are from a book entitled Phenomena of Materialisation by German physician and psychic researcher Baron von Schrenck-Notzing. The book focuses on a series of séances that Schrenck-Notzing witnessed between the years 1909 and 1913 involving the French medium Eva Carrière, or Eva C. Born Marthe Béraud, Carrière changed her name in 1909 to begin her career afresh after a series of seances she held in 1905 were exposed as a fraud. Her psychic performances as Eva C gained the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery series, who believed she was genuine, and also Harry Houdini, who was not so convinced. Another researcher who became interested in her case was Albert von Schrenck-Notzing. A series of tests he devised between the years 1909 and 1913 convinced him that Eva C was the real deal and in 1913 he published his Phenomena of Materialisation detailing the sessions and the reasons for his belief. It has been noted that these sessions with Schrenck-Notzing verged on the pornographic. Carrière’s assistant (and reported lover) Juliette Bisson would, during the course of the séance sittings with Schrenck-Notzing, introduce her finger into Carrière’s vagina to ensure […]

Comments Off on Photographs from a séance with Eva Carrière (1913)

Auto Polo (ca.1911)

- October 3, 2013 in auto polo, cars, collections, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, Flickr: the Commons, ford, Images, Images-20th, Images-People, Images-Photography, Library of Congress, polo, sport, Underlying Work: No Known Copyright Restrictions

Four photographs depicting dramatic scenes from an "auto polo" match, a version of polo played using cars rather than horses. The sport - thought to have been invented as a publicity stunt by a Ford automobile dealer from Topeka to sell Model Ts - was popular at fairs, exhibitions and sports venues across the United States and several areas in Europe from 1911 until the late 1920s.

Comments Off on Auto Polo (ca.1911)

A Selection from The Getty’s Open Content Program

- August 14, 2013 in cheetah, collections, crocodile, degas, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, getty, Images, Images-17th, Images-18th, Images-19th, Images-20th, Images-Animals, Images-Engraving-Line, Images-Illumination, Images-Landscapes, Images-Painting, Images-People, moon, orpheus, sloth, The Getty, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide

In August of this year The Getty announced the launch of their Open Content Program which sees more than 4500 images from their collection made available under an open license, meaning anyone can share the images freely and without restriction. We’ve spent the day trawling the thousands of images to bring you a small selection of highlights from their wonderful collection. Visit their site to get exploring yourself. The Getty Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: No Additional Rights Download: Right click on image or see source for higher res versions HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project and we rely on support from our readers to stay afloat. If you like what we do then please do consider making a donation. We welcome all contributions, big or small - everything helps! Become a Patron Small angel : £3.00 GBP - monthly Medium sized hero : £5.00 GBP - monthly Large emperor : £10.00 GBP - monthly Vast deity : £20.00 GBP - monthly Make a one off Donation SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new […]

Comments Off on A Selection from The Getty’s Open Content Program

The First Tour de France (1903)

- July 18, 2013 in 1903, collections, cycling, Digital Copy: PD Wikimedia, dreyfuss affair, first tour de france, France, Images, Images-20th, Images-People, Images-Photography, maurice garin, sport, tour de france, Underlying Work: No Known Copyright Restrictions, Wikimedia Commons

The 2013 Tour de France marks the 100th of the event’s history, which began in 1903 (the competition was put on hold during the two world wars). Strangely, this inaugural event of 1903 had it’s origins in one of France’s greatest political scandals – the Dreyfuss Affair. In 1894 a young French artillery officer of Jewish descent, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, was convicted of high treason but then, years later, was proven to be innocent in the light of new evidence, evidence which the military attempted to suppress. The ensuing debate over Dreyfuss’ innocence, and the wider issues of anti-semitism in which it was embedded, divided the nation. One such division occurred within France’s most popular cycling magazine L’Velo, causing it to split into two when an anti-Dreyfuss contingent broke away to form L’Auto-Velo. L’Velo‘s owner won a court case forcing L’Auto-Velo to change their name, which they did, to L’Auto, a move which saw their sales subsequently plummet. In an effort to boost their waning popularity, and win back their cycling fans, L’Auto set up the Tour de France in 1903. It was a hugely successful campaign which caused their sales to increase 6-fold during and after the race and, […]

Comments Off on The First Tour de France (1903)

Canada Through a Lens: the British Library Colonial Copyright Collection

- July 2, 2013 in British Library, Canada, CC, collections, colonialism, copyright, Curator's Choice, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, Europeana, Images, Images-19th, Images-20th, Images-Animals, Images-People, Images-Photography, Photography, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide, Wikimedia Commons

CURATOR’S CHOICE #1: PHIL HATFIELD AND ANDREW GRAY FROM THE BRITISH LIBRARY Phil Hatfield, British Library Curator in Canadian and Caribbean Studies, and Andrew Gray, British Library Wikipedian in Residence, kick off our brand new Curator’s Choice series by taking a look at the fascinating array of photographs in the British Library’s Canadian Colonial Copyright Collection. Copyright collections – those aggregations of published material accumulated by libraries as a result of copyright deposit laws – can provide a unique view of the world; especially when they have the opportunity to add photographs to their holdings. With minimal curatorial involvement in their selection and collection, as well as few gate keepers beyond the administration fee required to register copyright, you could say that such caches of material are a rare thing – a photographic world selected by myriad photographers themselves. This is the format of the British Library’s Colonial Copyright Collection of Canadian photographs, over 4,000 images registered for deposit and collected by the Library between 1895 and 1924. By and large the contents of the collection have been copyrighted as a result of the quality of the shot, the potential to make money from the photograph or, most likely, a […]

Comments Off on Canada Through a Lens: the British Library Colonial Copyright Collection

The Corset X-Rays of Dr Ludovic O’Followell (1908)

- June 18, 2013 in collections, corset, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, fashion, health, Images, Images-20th, Images-Photography, Images-Science, medicine, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide, Wikimedia Commons, x-ray

X-Ray images of women wearing corsets from the second volume of the French doctor Ludovic O’Followell’s Le Corset (1908). Although Dr O’Followell was clearly keen to show the damaging impact of corsets on women’s health, he did not actually want the corset to be abolished, but was simply trying to encourage a less severe design. Dr O’Followell in fact continued to write a regular column for the deluxe corsetier’s magazine Les Dessous Elégance. Wikimedia Commons Found via: Retronaut Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: No Additional Rights Download: Right click on image or see source for higher res versions HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project and we rely on support from our readers to stay afloat. If you like what we do then please do consider making a donation. We welcome all contributions, big or small - everything helps! Become a Patron Small angel : £3.00 GBP - monthly Medium sized hero : £5.00 GBP - monthly Large emperor : £10.00 GBP - monthly Vast deity : £20.00 GBP - monthly Make a one off Donation SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver […]

Comments Off on The Corset X-Rays of Dr Ludovic O’Followell (1908)

Illustrative plates from How I Killed the Tiger (1902)

- May 15, 2013 in collections, colonialism, death, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, hunting, Images, Images-20th, Images-Animals, Images-Illustrations, india, Internet Archive, tiger, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide, University of Toronto Libraries

Selected plates from How I killed the tiger; being an account of my encounter with a royal Bengal tiger, with an appendix containing some general information about India (1902), a small book by Lieutenant Colonel Frank Sheffield detailing his close brush with death by tiger. As the author explains in his introduction: My main purpose in writing this little book, was to place in a permanent form a description of my wonderful preservation from death in a chance encounter with a Royal Bengal Tiger. My life had been adventurous up to that time. I had shot big game of various kinds. But this episode, so marvellous in itself, so important in its influence upon my after life and character, marks the close of my career as a hunter of big game. Read the book, including more illustrative plates, over in our post in the Texts collection. Housed at: Internet Archive | From: University of Toronto Libraries Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: No Additional Rights Download: Right click on image or see source for higher res versions HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project and we rely on support from our readers to [...]

Comments Off on Illustrative plates from How I Killed the Tiger (1902)

Lantern Slides of Norway (ca.1910)

- April 29, 2013 in collections, fjords, Images-20th, Images-Landscapes, Images-People, Images-Photography, lantern slides, mountains, norway, scandinavia

A selection from a collection of early 20th century lantern slides held at the Fylkesarkivet of Sogn og Fjordane, a county in the west of Norway. The slides are produced by at least two British photographers – professional photographer Samuel J. Beckett and amateur photographer P. Heywood Hadfield, who was a ship’s surgeon employed by the Orient Steam Navigation Company. Hadfield produced several illustrated books from his travels, including With an Ocean Liner (Orient Co’s S.S. “Ophir”) through the Fiords of Norway. A Photographic Memento of a Fortnight’s Cruising, published in several editions by the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Co. Ltd in the early 1900s. Beckett also produced a book on Norway The Fjords and Folk of Norway, first published in 1915 by Methuen & Co. Ltd. Learn more about Lantern Slides here. (All images taken from the Flickr Commons collection of the Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane. Visit for higher resolution images and for more details on each photograph). HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project and we rely on support from our readers to stay afloat. If you like what we do then please do consider making a donation. We welcome all [...]

Comments Off on Lantern Slides of Norway (ca.1910)

Bifurcated Girls: Vanity Fair Special Issue (1903)

- April 26, 2013 in collections, fashion, girlie magazine, Images, Images-20th, Images-People, Images-Photography, pants, sex, sexism, sexual exploitation, trousers, vanity fair, women

Not the same Vanity Fair of current fame, this was a version published by The Commonwealth Publishing Company of New York City, incorporated in February 1902 but which went bankrupt in April 1904. “Vanity Fair” has been the title for at least 5 magazines, and as a phrase became popular through John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress where it was the name for Beelzebub’s dominion, and later also as the title of William Thackeray’s 1848 novel. Dian Hansen in the first volume of her History of Men’s Magazines (Taschen, 2004) discusses the “Bifurcated Girls” special issue and argues that this particular incarnation of Vanity Fair can be seen as the origin of the American girlie magazine: While France had a well-established men’s magazine industry by 1900, America was just showing its ankles in 1903. A magazine called Vanity Fair (unrelated to the current incarnation) was the raciest thing around, and rooming house loozies the hotties of the time. In this New York, tabloid girls who drank like men might strip down to their petticoats and fall into bed together, exposing their corset cover and stockings to peeping male boarders. The famously loose morals of stage actresses made them popular subjects for these [...]

Comments Off on Bifurcated Girls: Vanity Fair Special Issue (1903)