Snapshots of the Past

Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912 – Vintage Wall Art

Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912, n/a — historic photograph
Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912, n/a. Historic photograph from the Washington DC 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: Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912, preserved in this historic photograph. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912

Order a print

Secure checkout · SSL encryptedPowered by Stripe and PayPal

Free shipping in the lower 48 states. The checkout page shows the picture, size and price before you pay.

Sign up for our newsletter

Sent securely. No purchase needed. Unsubscribe anytime.

Ask about licensing or this print

Few places in the capital were busier in 1912 than Union Station, the Beaux-Arts rail terminal that Daniel Burnham designed and that had opened five years earlier. This glass negative records a Columbus Day memorial celebration held there, at a time when honoring the explorer was driven largely by Italian American and Catholic communities, well before October 12 became a federal holiday in 1937. The photographer, George Grantham Bain, worked as a news photographer, and his collection documents Washington life across these years. The surviving record does not describe the exact occasion, so the scene is best read as an example of how civic commemorations were staged in a major public space in the early twentieth century.

Created / publishedn/a
Medium1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
GenreGlass negatives.
NotesTitle devised by cataloger. Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress). Temp. note: Batch three loaded.
SourceLibrary of Congress, George Grantham Bain Collection
Original scan4,135 × 3,336 px · prints to 14 × 11 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-BNN-12540

More from the Washington DC collection

Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.

Related pictures

Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912Columbus Day Memorial Celebration, Union Station, Washington, D.C., 1912New Union Station, Washington, D.C.New Union Station, Washington, D.C.[Front facade, new Union Station, Washington, D.C.][Front facade, new Union Station, Washington, D.C.][Washington, D.C., switch yards, Union Station][Washington, D.C., switch yards, Union Station]President Elect Machado & J.B. Wright at Union Station, [Washington, D.C.], 4/15/25President Elect Machado & J.B. Wright at Union Station, [Washington, D.C.], 4/15Union Station, [Washington, D.C.], waiting roomUnion Station, [Washington, D.C.], waiting room