Step into Baltimore's industrial past with historical photos

Tue, 09 Feb 2016 17:20:00 -0500
active, library

Special Collections has a great photo collection you have to see for yourself. With over 400 panoramic Cirkut negatives ranging in content from Fort Meade and industrial sights around Baltimore to group portraits of Boumi Temple members and Red Cross nurses, the Hughes Company Cirkut Negatives collection has something for everyone to enjoy. The photographs were taken using a Cirkut camera, patented in 1904 by William J. Johnston and used to capture landscapes and group portraits. Cirkut cameras revolved on an axis and exposed sections of a film roll at the same time as the camera rotated. The negatives range in length from 20 inches to 100 inches, and can be exceptionally detailed. The assorted collection spans 15 boxes and features industrial plants, military units, city skylines, company picnics, panoramic views, schools, churches, city and town life in Maryland between 1916 to the mid-1940s.

Images in the collection depict a variety of locations from factory construction sites to group portraits. Many of the negatives capture the whimsical elements of daily life. Can you spot the pigs in the negative of the Liberty Yeast Co. Plant above? Or the jolly man sitting a few people over from the man who looks incredibly angry in the negative below?

Other topics include baseball games, several Maryland schools, and fleets of ice cream trucks with slogans such as “on your way take home a brick.” While the slogan seems bizarre to us, during this period ice cream was sold in half gallon rectangular tubs therefore they became known as bricks of ice cream.

Come see these negatives and more in Special Collections. The Special Collections Department is located at the far end of the Library Gallery, and is open Monday through Friday 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm with extended hours on Thursday from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.

Learn more about Cirkut cameras here.

This post was written by Special Collections intern Madison Meyer. Special Collections student assistants Graham Johnson, Rashmi Fegade, Rakshith Gowda, and Flora Kirk worked with Madison to measure and describe the Hughes Company Cirkut Negatives. Graduate Assistant Sarah Houston and Madison photographed the negatives and stitched the images together to make the seamless panoramic positive images seen in this post. Madison is currently working on creating a finding aid to the collection.