Snapshots of the Past

Bridges at San Francisco – Vintage Wall Art

Bridges at San Francisco, [1953] June 17. — historic drawing
Bridges at San Francisco, [1953] June 17.. Historic drawing from the San Francisco collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: Bridges at San Francisco, preserved in this historic drawing. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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Bridges at San Francisco

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Labor leader Harry Bridges, the Australian-born head of the West Coast longshoremen's union, is the figure at the center of this June 1953 editorial cartoon, which ran in the New Orleans *Times-Picayune*. San Francisco was the center of his union's power on the waterfront, and Bridges had been fighting government efforts to deport him and to prosecute him over his political affiliations for years. Cartoons like this one were a common way for mid-century newspapers to comment on those battles, which were closely tied to the anticommunist climate of the early 1950s. The drawing is worth reading for its symbolism as much as its caricature, since the bridges in the title point to both the city's geography and the legal contest surrounding him.

Created / published[1953] June 17.
Medium1 drawing.
GenreEditorial cartoons American.Drawings.
Notes(DLC/PP-1953:R23.4) Published in: New Orleans Times-Picayune. mm / 860602; ljr 941130. Source: Americana annual, 1954, p. 395; Goulden, The Best years, p. 122- -ljr.
SubjectsBridges, Harry,--1901- Labor leaders--United States--1950-1960. Actions & defenses--United States--1950-1960.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,283 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-209449

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