WWII vintage found negatives

[Brad Buszard]

My wife discovered a bunch of old nitrate 35mm at an estate sale a while back. We were shocked to find that the family had no interest in them, so we took them with us. I'm only now scanning some in. I thought I'd put a few up here to let others have a look at them and comment. Lots of pictures of sailors, etc. back from overseas, a picture of Memphis downtown (complete with streetcars), and what looks to me like a military barracks. Other than a bit of a contrast curve, the photos are unaltered and full frame.

[Brad Buszard]

[Brad Buszard]

[Rogier]

Screw all the new the film, camera's, lenses etc. This stuff looks great!
What size are these negatives?

[tj01]

What a gem !!

[Brad Buszard]

Originally Posted by Rogier

Screw all the new the film, camera's, lenses etc. This stuff looks great!
What size are these negatives?

Just 35mm. I have no idea what type; they just say "Nitrate film" by the sprocket holes. There's some nice swirl in whatever lens this man used, and from the skies I think he must have had a yellow filter on it at least some of the time.

[Mackinaw]

My 90 year old father died a few few months back and, while cleaning out the basement of his condo, we found several boxes of B&W negatives from the 1930's and 1940's in all formats. Talk about a treasure trove of old pictures, most which I had never seen before. Even found some rare WW2 combat pictures he took while stationed in the South Pacific. Absolutely incredible stuff.

Jim B.

[oftheherd]

Originally Posted by Mackinaw

My 90 year old father died a few few months back and, while cleaning out the basement of his condo, we found several boxes of B&W negatives from the 1930's and 1940's in all formats. Talk about a treasure trove of old pictures, most which I had never seen before. Even found some rare WW2 combat pictures he took while stationed in the South Pacific. Absolutely incredible stuff.

Jim B.

Would love to see some of them if you can.

[oftheherd]

I see US Army uniforms and US Navy uniforms. The area with the two water towers did not look to me like a military area at first. However, in WWII, many areas were set up quickly or areas were taken over. It could be a headquarters area next to a parade field.

The thing that puzzled me was the totem pole. If there aren't or weren't totem poles in the Memphis area, I would wonder it the photographer's unit wasn't sent to Alaska or Canada. There wouldn't have been native totem poles as that would not have fit any USA native indians of the lower 48. The photo of the lady would fit for someone working as a secretary or receptionist for the military. Spartan looking as it was.

The two lieutenants were infantry. I don't know what infantry would have been there, or if those are all taken in the Memphis area. But the Navy used to have a large presence there so soldiers and sailors could have easily been in that area together.

[Brad Buszard]

Lots of great info; thanks especially for the link on the totem pole. I'll get some more scanned over the next few days and we'll see what's what.

Any idea what the fountain is?

Originally Posted by memphis

also, the church behind the courthouse is still there- -

[charjohncarter]

Fabulous, all great.

[Pfreddee]

More, more!

The little girl in the photo at the fountain would be about my age now, maybe a little bit older.

Wonderful snaps!

With best regards,

Pfreddee(Stephen)

[Mr_Flibble]

Oh early M1941 'Parsons' field jackets with the pocket flaps! Shame I can't make out the Distinctive Unit Insignias on any of them. Definitely 1941-42 ish.

The Navy man feeding the doves is an Aviation Machinest's Mate by the look of it.

Absolutely fantastic pictures Brad, thanks for sharing them!


Mackinaw, I'm with oftheherd, I would love to see those photos.

[bigeye]

From wikipedia:

During the Second World War, the War Department constructed large supply depots in Memphis for the Army and the Army Air Force. The Memphis Army Depot also served as a prisoner of war camp, housing 800 Axis prisoners. ... in 1942, the US Navy built the Millington Naval Air Station (now the Naval Support Activity Mid-South) in Millington, Tennessee, just north of Memphis. This 3,500-acre (14 km2) facility provided pilot training during World War II, and later became the major naval air technical training center for enlisted personnel aviation speciality training. It is currently used as a naval personnel center and Headquarters for the US Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center.

[Mackinaw]

Originally Posted by oftheherd

Would love to see some of them if you can.

Here are a few action photos, both of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands taken late 1943, early 1944.





For the jeep pic, note the Japanese prisoners in the back seat. The second pic is of an airfield (foreground) being built. Note the active volcano, which I think is the Balgana volcano.

Jim B.

[Brad Buszard]

[Paddy C]

Very cool. Great find/get.

I'm not an archivist, but I believe that nitrate negatives can present some storage problems. They can spontaneously combust. I have no idea if you need to do anything about this but I thought I would mention it.

[oftheherd]

Originally Posted by memphis

totem pole:
http://www.memphismagazine.com/Memph.../Crumps-Folly/

Thanks Memphis. Who knew? I thought it looked authentic, but never suspected it was actually a real one imported to Memphis.

Thanks for all the other info as well. Can't beat someone from the local area to give good local information.

[oftheherd]

Brad Buszard - what incredible photos! Can you tell the date on the newspaper? That is a wonderfully historical photo. So are the others as well. Everything from combat to families at Easter and daily military life. Fantastic. Are there more?

[Brad Buszard]

Originally Posted by oftheherd

Can you tell the date on the newspaper?

Most of it: Wednesday, November 11 194-

The last digit is too blurry. From the day of the week it must be a 2.

I have at least a few more negatives to scan, and will get to them in the next couple of days.

[Time Freeze]

I had a similiar experience about 10 years ago. I went to a tag sale that was advertising as having photo equipment. When I got there I was told that a dealer had bought just about everything but there were still some darkroom stuff in the basment. I went dowstairs and on the counter was a metal index card file draw filled with 6x6 cm negatives in individual manila envelopes with a contact print attached to the outside of each envelope. There was also a box of loose negatives of various sizes. When I asked if they were for sale, I was told "Oh you can just take those". They turned out to be a treasure trove of images from the 30's to 60's, including a lot of NYC, all taken with high quality cameras. I felt like I won Lotto

I wonder how many digital images will survive?

John

[Muggins]

Originally Posted by Brad Buszard

Most of it: Wednesday, November 11 194-

The last digit is too blurry. From the day of the week it must be a 2.

That would fit with the second headline - Tanks Take Oran - see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Torch

A bit of further rummaging leads to here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France

Under "Overview" it dates the Nazi occupation of Vichy France as 11th November, so the Washington Post was right on the ball.

Fascinating stuff!

Adrian

[Mr_Flibble]

November 11 1942 is about right for the headline on the Allies capturing Oran.
[edit]...darn, missed Adrian's post.


Jim, thanks for posting those. I think I've mentioned this before, but it's interesting to see they removed the top bows and the windscreen of the jeep.

[Brad Buszard]

This may be it. I'll check with my wife to see if we have more squirreled away somewhere.

[Argenticien]

Originally Posted by Muggins

That would fit with the second headline - Tanks Take Oran - see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Torch

LOL!! I assume it's Yanks -- not "Tanks" -- take Oran...