The devastation of the great San Francisco Earthquake, on this day in 1906, is extensively photographically documented. There are thousands of monochrome photographs, some of which I've shared before, printed in newspapers or mass-produced as postcards. There are even a few true colour photographs, made with a rare early process.
The images in this post are stereoviews of post-earthquake scenes, photographs translated into low-quality half-tones, and then hand-tinted for commercial sale. I find them fascinating as an insight into the desires of early 20th century consumers of photography--even in documentary photographs, and even for photographs of a tragedy, applied colour was a selling point.
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| New York Public Library |
Workmen taking down unstable walls. Source
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| New York Public Library |
A cracked Van Ness Avenue. Source
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| New York Public Library |
The wrecked synagogue, Powell and Sutter Streets. Source
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| New York Public Library |
Market Street and the ferry building. Source
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| New York Public Library |
Workmen in the ruins. Source
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| New York Public Library |
City Hall. Source
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| New York Public Library |
Scavenging the ruins of a grand house. Source
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| New York Public Library |
The ruins of Chinatown. Source
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| New York Public Library |
A view from the waterfront. Source
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| New York Public Library |
Market Street. Source
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| New York Public Library |
Van Ness and Vallejo Streets. Source
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| New York Public Library |
A view from Huntingdon Palace, California Street. Source
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