Pearl Harbor photosfound in an attic

Judge Sharpe · Sep 22, 2008

These photos were taken with a Brownie December 7, 1941. A friend e-mailed them to me and I wanted to share.
The film was in a Brownie that had been stored away, and was undeveloped, or so the storie goes.
It held up pretty darn good Considering that there was no climet control, in an el -cheapo camera, and using avalible light with no adjustments. And it was a snapshooter at that. What do you all think??

Scruff McGruff · Sep 22, 2008

Wow. Horrifying, but you're right, surprisingly good. Thanks for sharing.

Helen B · Sep 22, 2008

Quite remarkable for the film to look so good without having been developed for so long. Some of the photos were taken at the Naval Air Station on Ford Island. They are already in the National Archive, captioned as official US Navy photographs.

The presence of the clock in the lower right of one of the images, and the serial numbers marked on some of the negatives also make me think that they are not the work of a snapshooter with a Brownie. I'd really prefer it for my suspicions to be unfounded.

Best,
Helen

saltface · Sep 22, 2008

#77 had me wondering...

Helen B · Sep 22, 2008

In case it isn't obvious, I've seen them before - some are rather well known, and they have been around for decades. They were not taken by 'a snapshooter' but by a number of photographers, mostly official ones.

Best,
Helen

Jaymz77 · Sep 22, 2008

WOW! Thank you for sharing these.. I can't stop looking at them!

DadeCountyAnthony · Sep 22, 2008

WOW......these images are a great deal of history. Well preserved and clear at most.

Thanks for sharing.

Helen B · Sep 22, 2008

Those images, and many more dramatic US Navy photos of the attack on Pearl Harbor are available freely through the National Archives: link.

Here is the famous picture of the magazine of the USS Shaw exploding (the 11th in the series above): link.

Why do these images need to be tainted with a cheap internet 'Brownie in the attic' lie? Surely the truth is the only story we should try to tell - don't we owe it to the people who took the pictures, and those who lost their lives?

Best,
Helen

Stogie · Sep 23, 2008

These photos' were probably taken with a speed graphic camera.

bigalbest · Sep 23, 2008

Helen B said:
Quite remarkable for the film to look so good without having been developed for so long. Some of the photos were taken at the Naval Air Station on Ford Island. They are already in the National Archive, captioned as official US Navy photographs.

The presence of the clock in the lower right of one of the images, and the serial numbers marked on some of the negatives also make me think that they are not the work of a snapshooter with a Brownie. I'd really prefer it for my suspicions to be unfounded.

Best,
Helen

No kidding, I recognized several right away. Way to tarnish a piece of real history. :thumbdown:

Overread · Sep 23, 2008

Helen - your links are - sadly - not working for me - they lead to a page saying that search is not available

used this search term:
pearl harbor photographs USS Shaw exploding
and did get a single responce which was that same shot - though it looks as if the ones presented in this thread have been digitally edited - that or the one on that site is a poor scan copy.

Helen B · Sep 23, 2008

Hmm, I wondered about the links. Here is the ARC main page for searching the digital archives: http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/BasicMultimediaSearchForm

Just search the 'Digital Copies' section for Pearl Harbor and set the results number to 100 (default), 1000 or 2000.

Hope that works.

Best,
Helen

Judge Sharpe · Sep 23, 2008

If I misspoke I am truly sorry. The pictures were passed on to me by a friend on a professional weblist. ( for Criminal Defense attorneys) The story I recited was the one sent with the pictures. I know my friend would not post these or pass on the story knowing it to be false, but, as with so much on the Web, you can not trust it.
Again I am sorry for passing on false hearsay information. Here is what was posted to me :

PEARL HARBOR: PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA SINCE 1941

The following photos were recently found in a foot locker in an old Brownie camera. You will definitely show your age if you know what a Brownie is or looks like. The quality of these photos is unreal after sitting in an old camera for 66 years.

PHOTOS STORED IN AN OLD BROWNIE CAMERA
Thought you might find these old photos very interesting; what quality from 1941.

Pearl harbor photos found in an old Brownie camera stored in a foot locker.

These photos were from sailor in the USS Quapaw ATF 110.

I think they are spectacular.
PEARL HARBOR
DECEMBER 7TH 1941"

These were passed on to him from another web site.
Again I was amazed at the quality of the photos and wanted to pass them along, but not at the cost of my credibility or veracity and certainly not to try to mislead anyone. Please accept my heart felt apology.

Judge Sharpe