“Ruins of unidentified concrete home,” Lamar Co., Texas, 1935, probably by Fanny Ratchford, via Texas State Archives Commons on flickr.
Beautiful matrix of wild plants. . . . Be sure to click the photo and see it enlarged.
The wind that wanders, the weeds wind-shaken,
These remain. . . .— Algernon Charles Swinburne, from “A Forsaken Garden“
“Unidentified Dogtrot* House” in Texas (exact location unknown), 1935, probably** taken by Fanny Ratchford, via Texas State Archives Commons on flickr.
Fannie Elizabeth Ratchford was a librarian who worked in the rare books collection of the University of Texas at Austin from 1919 to 1957. During the 1930s and 40s, she also began to put together a photographic and data survey of 19th c. Texas architecture.
Unfortunately, she ran out of time and funding before the planned book could be assembled and published. Her images, correspondence, questionnaires, and lists were donated to the Texas State Archives. Only the photos are available online, but they are wonderful. I’ll post some more in the coming weeks.
They sang Green, Green Grass of Home.
They sang Ne Me Quitte Pas beneath mesquite.— Ange Mlinko, from “Escape Architecture“
*More about dogtrot houses in Texas here.
**According to an email from the Archives: “Although the majority of the images within our Fannie Ratchford photograph collection were taken by Ratchford, she also acquired photographs from the Historic American Building Survey [HABS] as well as other photographers.”
All morning bathed in a dovelike brooding. . . .*
We woke up yesterday morning to heavy fog.
Our huge, antique TV dish was recently replaced with a much smaller one, but it was still on the back lawn awaiting pick up.
In the fog, from the upstairs porch, it looked like we’d had a space visitor.
I went out about 7:00 a.m. and took these naturally soft-focused pictures.
If you hover the cursor over the slideshow, you can stop it or move it in either direction.
You can scroll through larger versions of the images by clicking on ‘Continue reading’ below and then on any tile in the mosaic.
*by Mark Jarman, from “A.M. Fog.”
Continue reading “Our garden in fog”
“In Central Park, New York,” ca. 1900, by Byron, Detroit Publishing Co., via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Eight to fourteen inches of snow is also predicted for New York City today.
“Ice skaters on Rock Creek on the grounds of the National Zoological Park,” Washington, D.C., 1905, photographer unknown, via Smithsonian Institution Commons on flickr.
Schools are closed in Washington today, with 4″ to 8″ of snow predicted.
enclos*ure 