Soon after moving into the White House in 1945, President Truman noticed large areas of cracking in the plaster throughout the house. A structural survey revealed major problems caused by stress from the 1902 floor-bearing steel beams and the weight of the third floor and roof, all pressing against the inner brick walls. In 1948 Truman appointed [...]
In 1929, famous gangster Alphonse “Scarface” Capone spent eight months of his life in this cell. Al Capone’s Bertillion Card or intake record cites his crime, “C.C.D.W.,” (Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon), his alleged occupation (Cutter. Paper & Leather.), his suspicion in two previous murder investigations (both “Dis.,” or dismissed), and catalogs his famous scars. [...]
Built between 1822 and 1836, Eastern State Penitentiary expressed in physical form the progressive penological philosophy known as the “Pennsylvania System” of solitary confinement. At the center of debates on prison design and governance, it attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world during its early decades. The penitentiary was the product of an [...]
From socialsecurity.gov: The Social Security program that would eventually be adopted in late 1935 relied for its core principles on the concept of “social insurance.” Social insurance was a respectable and serious intellectual tradition that began in Europe in the 19th century and was an expression of a European social welfare tradition. It was first adopted [...]
From WorthPoint: Radica and Doodica were born in Orissa, India in 1888. They were xiphopagus twins, joined at the chest by a band of cartilage, similar to Chang and Eng. When they were born, the people of their village saw them as symbols of divine wrath and chased the family out of town. Their father [...]
From Edison films catalog: A marvelously clear picture taken from the top of the elevator of the Eiffel Tower during going up and coming down of the car. This wonderful tower is 1,000 feet in height, and the picture produces a most sensational effect. As the camera leaves the ground and rises to the top [...]
From the August 13, 1902 edition of The Motor: The latest thing in sports in the United States is the game of polo played on racing motorcars. It is dangerous enough and exciting enough when played on horseback, but one fears to think how these elements are intensified when the players are dashing about the [...]
“MOBILE OPTHALMIC CLINIC OPERATIONS THROUGHOUT THE DESERTS OF PALESTINE ca. 1939” (Photographs courtesy of the Library of Congress/Tehrkot Media)
(Photographs courtesy of the Library of Congress/Tehrkot Media)
From the January 1916 edition of Popular Science: “Maude, the Motor Mule”…is an automobile which has been performing the latest dances upon various racetracks over the country. Before the racers commence their whirlwind circling of the speedways, the band plays a tango or a one-step, and “Maude” appears upon the track, rearing upon two wheels [...]
Bargain day on 14th Street as this film shows hundreds of tightly packed people crowding into the front door of the Rothschild Co. 5 and 10 cent store. They are so closely packed it is difficult to tell one from another. The view is from across the street, looking down from the 2nd floor. Filmed [...]
From The Telegraph: In this extract from The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott, David M. Wilson recounts how Scott learnt the art of photography under the most challenging conditions. When, in September 1909, Robert Falcon Scott announced his plans for a second Antarctic expedition, his primary objective was to reach the South Pole for the [...]
![Man 'catching' a shark, [ca 1910]](http://thiscircularparade.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1a1Man-catching-a-shark-ca-1910_4703675913_o.jpg)
Photograph by Leslie Hinge ca. 1910. (National Library of New Zealand/Tehrkot Media)
A street level view from the sidewalk, looking along the length of 23rd Street. Following actuality footage of pedestrians and street traffic, the actors, a man in summer attire and a woman in an ankle-length dress, walk toward the camera. As they cross a grate on the sidewalk they pause, and the escaping air blows [...]
(Photographs courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum/Tehrkot Media)
From Wikipedia: One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal has had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via either the Strait of Magellan or Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 5,900 miles, well under half the 14,000 mile [...]
