Unpacking Mona Lisa at the end of World War II (1945)
The Louvre’s most precious works of art were hidden in the French countryside, away from strategic locations to avoid being destroyed. There is a fantastic documentary about art during World War II called The Rape of Europa. It discusses how the Nazis stole and destroyed staggering amounts of art during the war as well as various country’s efforts to hide and recover the art. Highly recommend watching it.
When Ringo was ill with tonsillitis, Jimmie Nicol substituted on drums for 8 concerts & lived a superstar’s life for 10 days. This is him sitting alone in a Melbourne airport, waiting for the plane that will take him back to obscurity (15 June 1964)
Camp of the 150th Pennsylvania Infantry, Belle Plain, Virginia, March 1863 (Google Maps incase anyone else is curious.)
Electric elevator desks in Prague, 1937
The largest vertical letter file in the world at the Central Social Institution in Prague. Over 3000 drawers opened and closed electrically and were accessible by electric elevator desks which rose, fell, and moved left or right at the push of a button.
Fidel Castro giving an interview in his car. 1964
Looks like he didn’t even have to use his AK; must have been a good day.
People pose on the Fieldbrook stump, probably the largest redwood tree in the world, Humboldt County, California, 1890’s. It was cut down to satisfy a drunken bet about making a table big enough to seat 40 guests from a single slice of tree-trunk
Japanese soldier about to commit suicide with a grenade against his head while an Australian soldier watches (New Guinea, December 18, 1942)
Four of them were running away, swimming to escape – three were shot by the australian, the fourth one surrendered and was coming back before he killed himself. source
Dalai Lama, 2 years old. 1937
The Dalai Lama is found rather than chosen. He is believed to have the power to choose the body into which he is reincarnated, meaning that the current Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of the last.
The search for the reborn Dalai Lama is the responsibility of the High Lamas of the Gelgupa tradition and the Tibetan government.
This process can take several years: it took four years to find the 14th (current) Dalai Lama, Tensin Gyatso. The search is generally limited to Tibet, although the current Dalai Lama has said that there is a chance that he will not be reborn, and that if he is, it will not be in a country under Chinese rule.
To start the search, High Lamas may have a vision or dream. If the previous Dalai Lama was cremated, they watch the direction of the smoke to indicate the direction of rebirth.
They often meditate at Lhamo La-Tso, central Tibet’s holy lake, and wait for a vision or indication of the direction in which to search. This relates to a belief that the female guardian spirit of the lake promised the first Dalai Lama that she would protect the reincarnation lineage.
When these visions have been followed up and a boy found, there are a series of tests to ensure that he is the rebirth. There is a secret set of criteria against which the child is assessed. In addition to this, the main test consists of presenting the boy with a number of items to see if he can select those which belonged to the previous Dalai Lama.
If only one boy has been found, the High Lamas confirm their findings with eminent religious and secular figures before reporting to the Central Government.
If more than one boy is found, a public lot is drawn by officials and monks.
The boy and his family are taken to Lhasa, where the boy can study the Buddhist sutra to relearn knowledge accumulated in previous lives in preparation for spiritual leadership.
When Confederate and Union veterans let bygones be bygones. c. 1913
Some British soldiers in World War I said they often felt more of a kinship with the Germans across from them on the front lines than with their own friends and family at home, because they went through the war together.
I’d have to think for a lot of Union and Confederate soldiers it was the same, especially since they shared so much of their identity.
A U.S. Marine approaches a Japanese soldier on Iwo Jima. The soldier was buried for 1 1/2 days in this shell hole playing dead and ready with a live grenade inches away from his hand. Promising no resistance, the prisoner is given a cigarette he asked for and was dragged free from the hole.
Danish soldiers without a chance preparing to engage the invading German army. 1940
Most beautiful legs contest in Paris, 1936
A 6-foot-5-inch machine gunner with the U.S. 9th Infantry Division crosses a muddy stream on the Mekong Delta, south of Saigon, September 10, 1968 – by Henri Huet
Airlifting of CIA contacts off the CIA HQ in Saigon 22 Gia Long Street (now Ly Tu Trong Street)
"the Pittman Apartments, I could see 20 or 30 people on the roof, climbing the ladder to an Air America Huey helicopter. At the top of the ladder stood an American in civilian clothes, pulling people up and shoving them inside.
Of course, there was no possibility that all the people on the roof could get into the helicopter, and it took off with 12 or 14 on board. (The recommended maximum for that model was eight.) Those left on the roof waited for hours, hoping for more helicopters to arrive, to no avail."
Of course, there was no possibility that all the people on the roof could get into the helicopter, and it took off with 12 or 14 on board. (The recommended maximum for that model was eight.) Those left on the roof waited for hours, hoping for more helicopters to arrive, to no avail."
The sinking of the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze, as seen through the periscope of the USS Nautilus (the submarine that torpedoed the Yamakaze), on 25 June 1942
Two Beautiful Flappers in Front of a Peerless Touring Car, San Francisco Bay Area, 1923
Samuel Reshevsky, age 8, defeating several chess masters at once in France, 1920
“Price, Birch & Co, Dealers in Slaves”, 1315 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia, 1861-65 (Google Maps)
Original caption: Photograph showing a Union army guard and other men in front of a building designated Price, Birch & Co., dealers in slaves, at 1315 Duke St., Alexandria, VA. Before that, the premises were owned by the slave-trading firm Franklin & Armfield. The Union army used the former slave jail to house Confederate prisoners. Between 1861 and 1865.
Franklin and Armfield Slave Pen, at 1315 Duke Street was one of the largest slave trading companies in the country. The Franklin and Armfield building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now the office of the Northern Virginia Urban League. The Freedom House Museum is open to the public.
The three-story brick building with mansard roof was built as the residence of Robert Young, Brigadier General of the second Militia of the District of Columbia. By 1828, it was leased by Isaac Franklin and John Armfield and used as a “Negro Jail” or slave pen for slaves being shipped from Northern Virginia to Louisiana. Franklin and Armfield were active until 1836, exporting over 3,750 slaves to cotton and sugar plantations in the Deep South. Later, other firms continued trading in slaves here. A sign seen in Civil War period photographs has the name of Price, Birch & Co.
During the Civil War the building and its surrounding site were used as a military prison for deserters, the L’Ouverture Hospital for black soldiers and the barrack for contraband-slaves who fled the confederate states and sought refuge with Union troops
Interior view of the building, showing the doors of cells where the slaves were held, before being sold
Private box in Ford’s Theater, Washington, where President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on the night of April 14, 1865
A girl who grew up in a concentration camp draws a picture of “home”, Poland 1948
No comments:
Post a Comment