Library of Congress Pictures

I was poking around the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. I often have a hard time navigating the LOC site, rarely finding what I am looking for.

I was unsuccessful in searching for any of the family names that I tried searching for so I decided to search for "Syracuse" to see what was available. I found several interesting pictures but one labeled, "Milk delivery being made to a chocolate factory near Syracuse, New York", caught my eye. I recognized it as being the Nestle Chocolate Factory in Fulton, NY. If I was looking for this specifically I would not have found it by searching for Fulton or Nestle. A search for chocolate factory does include this image but I would have had to know that Fulton was near Syracuse.

Oct 1941, Fulton, NY
Nestle Chocolate Factory [1]

The factory in Fulton was Nestle's first chocolate factory in the United States. After a century of operation, it closed in 2003, another blow to our local economy. An African firm has purchased the plant but it is still is not operating and there have been reports of mishandling of funds that make me suspect that the plant will not reopen anytime soon. I can still remember my first trip to Fulton when I was probably 10 -12 and the smell of chocolate that intensified the closer you got to the plant.

The truck in the picture is another great find for me. Dairylea is a local milk cooperative that, happily, is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year. The next picture in the LOC collection shows the back of the truck with lettering stating it had air brakes. That got me looking into the history of air brakes, which I found fascinating but I will spare the rest of you. I love large, antique vehicles.

After downloading the picture above I decided to click on the link for "Display Images with Neighboring Call Numbers." I found 100's of pictures I didn't know I was looking for! There were pictures in this particular group from Oswego, the Finger Lakes, Little Falls, Amsterdam and places in Western Masachusetts and Conneticut. Dozens of these pictures were untitled and therefore will not be found using the search function! I was able to tell where some were taken by comparing them to others in the collection, sometimes separated by several pages.

I next searched for "Oswego" and was led to a different collection of pictures where I found this great picture of a bus bound for Syracuse at the corner of W. First St and W. Bridge St. I had just passed through this intersection on my way to the dentist last week. How much fun it would have been to have this picture with me then so that I could compare then & now!

1940's Oswego, NY
Corner of W First St & W Bridge St [2]

In this collection there were also many pictures labeled "untitled" but many I could again link up with other pictures in the group. In both collections there were dozens of pictures of people, most without names. So the point behind this rather long ramble is that you really need to plan to spend some time poking around the collections to find all the great stuff!

They have a long page on copyright information that turned out to not be very helpful to me. The pictures that I decided to share here have nothing about their copyright status. If I am interpreting the information provided correctly I should be OK using these images under "fair use." Below is the source information included with each picture. Feel free to weigh in on what I didn't need to include and what I left out.


[1]
TITLE: Milk delivery being made to a chocolate factory near Syracuse, New York
CALL NUMBER: LC-USF34- 081278-D [P&P]
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USF34-081278-D (b&w film neg.)
MEDIUM: 1 negative : safety ; 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches or smaller.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1941 Oct.
CREATOR: Collier, John, 1913- photographer.
NOTES:
Title and other information from caption card.
LOT 1306 (Location of corresponding print.)
Use electronic surrogate.
Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
Film copy on SIS roll 13, frame 369.
SUBJECTS:
United States--New York--Onondaga County--Syracuse.
FORMAT:
Safety film negatives.
PART OF: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540
DIGITAL ID: (intermediary roll film) fsa 8c26068
CONTROL #: fsa2000052293/PP

[2](I do not know why there is so much less info. on this picture.)
Digital ID: fsa 8d31682
Source: digital file from intermediary roll film of original neg.
Reproduction Number: LC-USW3-034504-E (b&w film nitrate neg.),
LC-DIG-ppmsca-01513 (digital file from print),
LC-USZ62-131149 (b&w film copy neg. from print)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540