Kirkuk district--An oil well on fire--Clouds of black smoke – Historic Reproduction
![Kirkuk district--An oil well on fire--Clouds of black smoke, [1932 or 1933] — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/90/90590bdc9be1-L.webp)
(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: Kirkuk district--An oil well on fire--Clouds of black smoke, preserved in this historic photograph. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.
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Kirkuk district--An oil well on fire--Clouds of black smoke
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Thick black smoke rises from an oil well ablaze in the Kirkuk district of northern Iraq, the kind of blaze that could burn for days or weeks before crews brought it under control. The Kirkuk field had been developed in the late 1920s, and by the early 1930s its wells were among the most valuable in the region, so a fire there meant both danger and lost production. The photograph belongs to the G. Eric and Edith Matson Collection, made by a husband-and-wife team who traveled widely in the Near East and recorded its people and landscapes between the wars. The record dates it only to 1932 or 1933.
| Created / published | [1932 or 1933] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Genre | Photographic prints 1930-1940. |
| Notes | Item in album: no. 4853. Forms part of: the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection. |
| Subjects | Fires--Iraq--Karkūk--1930-1940. Petroleum industry--Iraq--Karkūk--1930-1940. Smoke--Iraq--Karkūk--1930-1940. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 4,096 × 3,274 px · prints to 14 × 11 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-194587 |
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