JF Ptak Science Books Post 2795
Sometimes “surprises” are quick to come to recognition, and sometimes they are slow, and sometimes they do a fast-creep into existence. The following surprise is a combination of the three—it may not have developed into the “something” I thought it nearly was, or is, but given the initial shock in seeing them, there probably is a “there”, there.
I'm speaking of the illustrations for what is mostly a benign work, Georgia, its Resources, Condition and Opportunities, Preliminary Pamphlet, which on the face of it has very high potential for boredom and nothingness. It was published though in Atlanta in 1898, which gives it some hope—it also had in a sub-sub-heading that it was sponsored by the “Georgia Immigration and Investment Bureau”, which breathes some life into the thing.
On opening the pamphlet immediately gave up its prize—photographs. And this was the first photo I saw:
Now I know this is supposed to be a propaganda piece for the state to attract money and people to come to Georgia, showing the abundances and state of agriculture as they were in 1898, which should have put a bright coat of shining sheen over whatever was to be pictured--but a photo like this had a very photo documentary effect, far more so than the photographer or editor ever intended it to be. It was a pride photo back in 1898, not an unblinking-photo-eye.
But the mystery is also the insight, something for us to consider 121 years into the future of these scenes which displayed what was supposed to be the Happy Normal. So the “Square Mile of Peaches” photo showing abundance seems to have the feel of an abundant silent crisis receding in its own mist, sinking into the short horizon.
And this:
What I wonder was the message in showing the formal but informal arrangement of the white and black people working together picking pears? “Integrated” is certainly not the word to use here—no doubt it was more like an agreement to perform some sort of work where the races were in close proximity with all race rules observed and maintained.
There were many photos lie this in the pamphlet—of the thirty or so in the pamphlet only these three emerge to tell a story differentiated from the work they illustrated.
They are Found-Semi-Social-Documentary images, sort of...I'm not sure, really what they are. They were certainly very different from what I expected, and in memory remind me a little of Annan, Mayhew, Hines, Riis, Parks, and Lange, but only by accident. They reveal something that is beyond the quickly posed environment.
They are a little mysterious in interpretation—and they were certainly a surprise.
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