Snapshots of the Past

Negro woman carrying coal at a penny a basket from lighter to steamer, Cristobal, Panama – Vintage Wall Art

Negro woman carrying coal at a penny a basket from lighter to steamer, Cristobal, Panama, c1907. — historic photograph
Negro woman carrying coal at a penny a basket from lighter to steamer, Cristobal, Panama, c1907.. Historic photograph from the Steamboats 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 Negro woman carrying coal at a penny a basket from lighter to steamer, Cristobal, Panama. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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Negro woman carrying coal at a penny a basket from lighter to steamer, Cristobal, Panama

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A woman carries coal in baskets from a lighter, a small barge alongside, up to a steamer at Cristobal, the Caribbean port at the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal. The work of hand-loading coal, called bunkering, was done by laborers who moved fuel in baskets across gangplanks, and the title's "a penny a basket" shows how little each load paid. The picture dates to about 1907, when the canal was under American construction and the port was busy with coaling ships. It was issued as a stereograph by the H.C. White Co., so it was meant to be seen in three dimensions through a stereoscope.

Created / publishedc1907.
Medium1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
SubjectsStereo copyrighted by H.C. White Co. No. 11507. This record contains unverified data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Geogr.; Industry--Coal; Women--Occupations; Shipping.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 784 px · prints to 5 × 3 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-148710

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