Sepia Saturday - Places in Glass

Saturday, September 17, 2011

For our first Sepia Saturday contribution, we follow the "travel/places" theme with a few shots from the glass plate/lantern slide collection. This box of plates was photographed back in 2007 on the fly when visiting for the homecoming - so I apologize for the poor quality. We used a white piece of paper, taped to a sunny window and held the slides up to photograph with a digital camera. Once I re-locate these slides within the collection, I will reproduce them with greater clarity. The subjects are diverse: mission trip to China, Cincinnati  and the 1937 flood, aerial views of Cincinnati, Union Terminal and the ground laying ceremony for the main temple downtown. Here are a few "places" and "travel" slides for your amusement:
Union Terminal in downtown Cincinnati. Completed in 1933, this Art Deco marvel still serves as the train station for the city. Although, today, it serves a double roll as the History Museum and Historical Society. Seeing all the cars lined up outside, reminds me of the taxi ramps that still exist inside the structure that were designed to facilitate fast travel in an orderly and convenient manner.
This aerial view of the terminal is also from the 1930s and displays not only the multiple railroad lines coming in and out of the city, but if you look up to the far right corner, you can see the skyscrapers of the young Cincinnati skyline. The river is just beyond the city with two bridges in view.
Here is another view of the young skyline, taken from the front of the Terminal. The grounds, including fountain complex are still intact, in their original style - if you've never visited this national treasure, you must put this on your historic to-do list!
As promised, here is a travel photo sent back by Lincoln Park Missionary, Miss Melvina Solman/Sollman. We will feature more of her beautiful photos soon, but this is my favorite. This was a new Baptist Church they built in Swatow China around the turn of the century. For another glimpse into the travels of Miss Solman, I have included a postcard she sent back to the minister's wife in 1911. To enlarge and read the postcard yourself, simply click on the image. It details one of her "vacations" while in China.

Happy Sepia Saturday Everyone!