When looking at historical documents, I find that certain things (such as diaries and city council minutes, things that reflect the thinking and acting of particular people) help distant times seem nearer, more similar, to my own times, while looking at old photographs, showing old fashions and technologies keeps distant times distant for me. However, when I looked last week at examples from this recent discovery of dozens of news photos from Weegee, taken in NYC in 1937, I was remind that there have always been accidents and mistakes and damage, that “the good old days” are good only by subtracting the bad days from the historical sum, and this awareness makes past years seem much more present.
Photo: © Weegee/International Center of Photography
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