Snapshots of the Past

Montgomery Street, San Francisco, Instantaneous – Historic Photograph Print

Montgomery Street, San Francisco, Instantaneous, [published 1866] — historic photograph
Montgomery Street, San Francisco, Instantaneous, [published 1866]. Historic photograph 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

Step back in time with Montgomery Street, San Francisco, Instantaneous, a historic photograph rich in period detail. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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Montgomery Street, San Francisco, Instantaneous

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Montgomery Street was the main commercial thoroughfare of San Francisco in the 1860s, and this instantaneous view captures it at a moment when the city was growing fast on the strength of the Gold Rush. The print is one half of a stereograph, the paired-image format that viewers used with a hand-held stereoscope to see depth, and it was issued in a series called "Gems of California Scenery." Albumen prints like this one were the standard way to reproduce photographs of the period, so the surface sheen and warm tone are typical of the decade. The Library of Congress holds only this single half of the original pair, so the second image is not available here.

Created / published[published 1866]
Medium1 photographic print : half stereograph, albumen.
GenreStereographs 1860-1870.Albumen prints 1860-1870.
SubjectsThe Library holds only one photo from a pair published as a stereographic view. Gems of California scenery, no. 148. LOT subdivision subject: San Francisco--General Views. This record contains unverified old data from caption card.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,447 px · prints to 5 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-115924

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