In this year's Remembrance post, we remember the past by looking to the future - specifically, of the Jordan/Ference Collection, the world's largest publicly available archive of Great War stereography. See over 40 new images, and consider what they meant to the men who served.
Remembrance Day 2021: Colonials, Hospitals & Command by Cl. Gueidan
This year's Remembrance Day post focuses on the work of Cl. Gueidan, a stereographer who sold some of his non-stereo work to the Section photographique de l'armée. He had incredible access to High Command, but also focused on Marsouins (colonial marines), hospitals, and ruins, creating some incredible works in the process.
Why I Love Amateur Glass Stereoviews: 7 Great War Slides from France
Long-time readers of Brooklyn Stereography should be unsurprised that I love amateur glass stereoviews. In this article, I use a set of seven received earlier this week to highlight exactly why.
“La Délivrance”, part of the Nantes Memorial to the War Dead, in 1927
"La Délivrance", the statue that was at the center of the Nantes Memorial to the War Dead, was also at the center of a lot of controversy. Placed in July of 1927, it was torn down by far-right wing vandals - not to be restored for 91 years, on the Armistice Centenary.
Ruins Tourism and the Ghoul of Soissons
While touring the ruins after the Great War was rather unexceptional, this well-shot amateur set is rather bizarre in that a lone woman is pictured in most of the shots, always with a stolid expression on her face and in a very proper stance. Add in a complete lack of other people, she comes off as rather ghoulish, like a spectre haunting the rubble.
Great War 1914-1918: The Ruins of Reims
An amateur set of contemporary modern ruins photography of Reims, at and around the bombed-then-burned-out Cathedral, and probably taken well before the end of the Great War, shows 12 views from a very talented photographer, documenting the damage to a beautiful city and its centerpiece.
Amateur set – Ambulances from Champagne 1915 & Saint-Mesmes 1916 (Marne)
An amateur set containing 7 views from the Great War: 3 of an ambulance convoy leaving to pick up the wounded of Champagne, 3 of a convoy at Saint-Mesmes, and one of soldiers camped in a small village (probably the latter).
“My Shelter at 36th Artillery Regiment”, Verdun, 1918
4 "digital prints" from negatives of life in the camp of the 36th Artillery Regiment stationed in Saint Airy Forest at Verdun in January 1918 show snowbound soldiers near one's shelter - as well as a peek into the shelter itself!