LongView Historic Photo Restoration

10/28/2024

Here's an unexpected headline from the 1904 World's Fair: "Donkey Appears at Oklahoma Building Every Morning and Departs with Livelier Step." On further exploration, it seems that the donkey was getting intoxicated on rotten apples disposed of by the Oklahoma Building staff. Each day the donkey visited the trash pile, got a little pick-me-up, and then headed back to the Mining Gulch for his daily regimen of giving rides to children.

As the St. Louis Republic described in 1904, "The b***o appears at the Oklahoma building in the morning with drooping head, tired and languid. After he had had his repast of apples, with head aloft, he meanders over toward his stable and really acts as if he owned the Exposition."

Discover more fascinating stories and images at our new exhibit.

09/25/2024

07/22/2024

05/10/2024

The Devil's Toll Gate in Reynolds County, Missouri, circa 1950. The Jeep shown here is driving on a portion of an Civil War-era trail that, according to the Reynolds County Museum, "ran from Pilot K**b, Missouri, to Pocahontas, Arkansas." From Taum Sauk Mountain the trail passed through the Devil's Toll Gate to "Lesterville, through Centerville, south to Barnesville into Pine Valley and then to Van Buren."
For more, check out: http://www.rcghs.org/fort-barnesville/
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Southeast Missouri Lead District, Photograph Collection (P1130). View the photo online at: https://tinyurl.com/DevilsTollGate. View more from the collection: https://tinyurl.com/LeadDistrict.
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04/01/2024

A 1954 color slide of R. F. Coosie in Flagstaff, Arizona. Mr. Coosie, a camp cook, invented insulated beverage covers in the late 1930s. He wanted a way to keep his beer at a comfortable drinking temperature during the long cattle drives in the desert.

04/01/2024

Photos of 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition-St. Louis, Missouri World's Fair. Most are colorized. Repository: St. Louis Public Library Digital Collections.

01/07/2024

Long ago I posted the original 1939 black-and-white photo of a cafe in Marfa, taken by Russell Lee. A Traces of Texas reader graciously sent in this colorized version of the same photo. I've said before that I sometimes am not a big fan of colorizing black-and-white photos but I like them if they are well done, subtly and not over-saturated. This is a very good job in my opinion. So many fantastic details in this shot. She's just waiting on a customer and you can imagine that she's daydreaming about a faraway place ... or maybe even a secret lover. And he's in the back cleaning off the grill or whatever he's doing, but he's also in his own reverie. At least, this is how my imagination paints the picture.

12/29/2023

Week 14 of the NFL is underway, but we are looking back 101 years to 1922 to get a look and bring to life in color the Chicago Bears starting Tight End, Head Coach, AND owner, George Halas! Bear Down! Bear Down VINTAGE CLASSIC NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Pro Football Retired Players Association

08/25/2023

Little Red says, “It does not matter which side of the tracks your from,the train still rolls the same.”