Sunday, August 21, 2011

Engine Made by a Prisoner


"Engine made and invented by a prisoner, whilst confined at this prison." Proto steam punk, a.k.a. "steam." Graphite, ink, and watercolor drawing by John Jacob Omenhausser, Confederate prisoner at Point Lookout Prison Camp, Maryland, 1864.

6 comments:

  1. Dear Vanished Hand
    Thank you for posting all this wonderful material, in the one place...everything is only a moment away and all things must past, leaving only fingerprints and the faintest of cobwebs as remains.
    It has been life affirming reading through your blog.
    Cy at Pck

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  2. The photos you have on your blog and on flickr are very impressive, especially the close ups on the Christian Commission Headquarters photograph. Where do you go to get such great scans? What do you use?

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  3. Thanks for the positive feedback! I'm sorry I haven't posted or replied for so long. I've been spending my time on a couple other projects, and since there seemed to be a lack of interest in this blog I decided to put it on hiatus. Cy, a comment like yours makes me want to jump back into it--I will give it serious consideration.

    Waltwhitmanbirthplace, the photo details I've posted here and on Flickr came from larger images downloadable through the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection available online here:
    http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/civwar/

    The 20MB tiff files reveal just how detailed and enormous many of the original images are. They really do justice to the photographs in ways books cannot.

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  4. I am working on a book-blog which can be seen at [one word] theoryofirony.com, then clicking on either the “sample chapter” or “blog” buttons. My Rube Goldberg contraption of a brain processes the world with an odd, well-caffeinated kind of logic. Why is there an inverse proportion between the size of the print and the importance of the message? History. Literature. Art. Science. Religion. I call this eccentric thinking the Theory of Irony and if your busy schedule permits, why not give a read, leave a comment or create a link?

    P.S. Sorry if this seems like spam, but it was written by a real live history junkie.

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  5. Howdy!

    I need to to ask something. How many aronia berry per day?

    Thanks!
    Anthony

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