Snapshots of the Past

[Automobile straddling railroad tracks during race between New York and San Francisco] – Vintage Wall Art

[Automobile straddling railroad tracks during race between New York and San Francisco], [1908] — historic photograph
[Automobile straddling railroad tracks during race between New York and San Francisco], [1908]. 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

Step back in time with [Automobile straddling railroad tracks during race between New York and San Francisco], a historic photograph rich in period detail. 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. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. 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.

[Automobile straddling railroad tracks during race between New York and San Francisco]

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A rare view of the 1908 New York to Paris Race shows an automobile straddling railroad tracks, its wheels set across the rails. Because the cross-country leg ran west from New York through largely unpaved territory, drivers sometimes had to improvise routes where no proper road existed, and rail lines offered a usable path. The race drew six entrants from several countries and ended in Paris that summer, with the American Thomas Flyer taking the win. The print is catalogued under Spooner and Wells, a New York photography firm active in the period.

Created / published[1908]
Medium1 photographic print.
GenrePhotographic prints 1900-1910.
NotesBy(?) Spooner and Wells, Inc., New York. No. 26337.
SubjectsNew York to Paris Race, 1908. Automobile racing--1900-1910. Railroad tracks--1900-1910.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,035 px · prints to 5 × 3 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-167054

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