Snapshots of the Past

The automatic two-speed control – Historic Print

The automatic two-speed control, 1930 — historic photograph
The automatic two-speed control, 1930. Historic photograph from the Automobiles 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

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of The automatic two-speed control. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. Perfect for a home, office, library or classroom wall, and a gift with a story behind it. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

The automatic two-speed control

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Its record ties this 1930 print to the Chicago and North Western Railway Company and to the railroad employees who worked for it in Chicago, and its title, *The automatic two-speed control*, points to a mechanical device rather than a view of the city. The gallery files it under automobiles, but the record does not explain that link, so the vehicle the control served is unclear. Industrial photographs from this period often documented new equipment for company records and trade publications, so the picture likely shows a workplace innovation at a time when railroads were modernizing their operations.

Created / published1930
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints 1930.
SubjectsChicago and North Western Railway Company--People--Illinois--Chicago--1930. Railroad employees--Illinois--Chicago--1930.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,284 × 4,096 px · prints to 11 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-187105

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