Snapshots of the Past

[Aerial view of Boston; first photograph taken from a balloon; 1861] – Vintage Photo Print

[Aerial view of Boston; first photograph taken from a balloon; 1861], 1903 — historic photograph
[Aerial view of Boston; first photograph taken from a balloon; 1861], 1903. Historic photograph from the Ballooning 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 [Aerial view of Boston; first photograph taken from a balloon; 1861]. 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.

[Aerial view of Boston; first photograph taken from a balloon; 1861]

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This view of Boston is often cited as one of the earliest aerial photographs, taken from a balloon tethered above the city. This print is a 1903 reproduction of work by photographers Samuel A. King and J.W. Black, published that year in *The Photographic Miniature*. The record gives 1861 as the original date, but that date is unverified, and the picture is more commonly associated with 1860. Looking across the rooftops and streets, the image shows how the dense city and its waterfront looked to a camera lifted high above them, a vantage that was new at the time.

Created / published1903
Medium1 photographic print.
NotesRepro. of photo by Samuel A. King & J.W. Black. In: The Photographic Miniature, July 1903, Vol. V, No. 52, p. 144. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,500 × 2,172 px · prints to 5 × 7 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-116284

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