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Remembering Washington, D.C.
With a selection of fine historic images from their best-selling book Historic Photos of Washington, D.C., Matthew Gilmore and Andrew Brodie Smith provide a valuable and revealing historical retrospective on the growth and development of Washington, D.C.. Remembering Washington, D.C., captures this journey through still photography selected from the finest archives. From the city’s early days to recent times, Remembering Washington, D.C., follows life, government, education, and events throughout Washington’s history. This volume captures unique and rare scenes through the lens of more than a hundred historic photographs. Published in vivid black-and-white, these images communicate historic events and everyday life of two centuries of people building a unique and prosperous city.
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2010
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 24, 2021
Historic Photographs of Washington, D.C.
I moved to Washington D.C. 38 years ago simply to take a job, but the city has grown on me in the intervening years to become my home. I have enjoyed getting to know the familiar sites and monuments, and I have enjoyed as well walking through many parts and neighborhoods of the city and discovering unfamiliar places. In getting a feel for the city, present and past, I have found several photographic histories useful. Among them is this recent book, "Remembering Washington, D.C." by Matthew Gilmore and Andrew Brodie Smith, two local historians who worked in the Washingtoniana and History divisions of the Martin Luther King public library. The book is an abridgment of a hardback collection of photographs "Historic Photos of Washington D.C" published in 2007.
"Remembering Washington D.C." consists of about 130 photographs of historic Washington dating from the Civil War era to 1963. The photos are well-presented and faithfully reproduced on glossy paper in a volume that will be comfortable on a coffee table but cumbersome to carry. The photos derive from the voluminous collections of the Library of Congress and the Washington, D.C. public library. Some of the photos are relatively well-known while others are rare. Gilmore and Smith provide useful, informative captions and background information to the photos.
The book chronicles the development of the city, its architecture, bridges, monuments, streets, and commerce. The larger part of the collection deals with official Washington -- government buildings, monuments, and historical events and parades ranging from the post-Civil War encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic on Pennsylvania Avenue, to Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington on the Mall. A smaller but still substantial part of the book focuses on downtown Washington D.C., its buildings avenues, and streetcars, and the commerce that has developed with the years. These latter photos were of more interest to me than those dealing with the government and the monuments.
The book is divided into four sections which cover Washington D.C. to the end of the Civil War Era, (1860 -- 1879); the Washington, D.C. of the Gilded Age (1880 -- 1920), The city between the end of WW I and the end of WW II (1921 -- 1949) and the Postwar Growth and Decline of Washington D.C. (1950 -- 1963). The final section of the book seems to have been shortened markedly. Beyond a revealing photograph of a neighborhood street in Southwest Washington before urban renewal (p. 127) this section focuses on the 1963 March and does not document the "decline" of the city during this time period.
There are fine photos in the book of streets, buildings, and businesses that are no more as well as of the once ever-present streetcars. I enjoyed the book and learned a good deal about what has become my city. There are thousands of historic photographs of Washington, D.C. that remain to be explored. This book is a good introduction which has whetted my appetite to learn more about neighborhoods, thoroughfares, back places, and side streets as well as about the monuments and downtown that are nicely documented in this volume.
Robin Friedman
I moved to Washington D.C. 38 years ago simply to take a job, but the city has grown on me in the intervening years to become my home. I have enjoyed getting to know the familiar sites and monuments, and I have enjoyed as well walking through many parts and neighborhoods of the city and discovering unfamiliar places. In getting a feel for the city, present and past, I have found several photographic histories useful. Among them is this recent book, "Remembering Washington, D.C." by Matthew Gilmore and Andrew Brodie Smith, two local historians who worked in the Washingtoniana and History divisions of the Martin Luther King public library. The book is an abridgment of a hardback collection of photographs "Historic Photos of Washington D.C" published in 2007.
"Remembering Washington D.C." consists of about 130 photographs of historic Washington dating from the Civil War era to 1963. The photos are well-presented and faithfully reproduced on glossy paper in a volume that will be comfortable on a coffee table but cumbersome to carry. The photos derive from the voluminous collections of the Library of Congress and the Washington, D.C. public library. Some of the photos are relatively well-known while others are rare. Gilmore and Smith provide useful, informative captions and background information to the photos.
The book chronicles the development of the city, its architecture, bridges, monuments, streets, and commerce. The larger part of the collection deals with official Washington -- government buildings, monuments, and historical events and parades ranging from the post-Civil War encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic on Pennsylvania Avenue, to Dr. King's 1963 March on Washington on the Mall. A smaller but still substantial part of the book focuses on downtown Washington D.C., its buildings avenues, and streetcars, and the commerce that has developed with the years. These latter photos were of more interest to me than those dealing with the government and the monuments.
The book is divided into four sections which cover Washington D.C. to the end of the Civil War Era, (1860 -- 1879); the Washington, D.C. of the Gilded Age (1880 -- 1920), The city between the end of WW I and the end of WW II (1921 -- 1949) and the Postwar Growth and Decline of Washington D.C. (1950 -- 1963). The final section of the book seems to have been shortened markedly. Beyond a revealing photograph of a neighborhood street in Southwest Washington before urban renewal (p. 127) this section focuses on the 1963 March and does not document the "decline" of the city during this time period.
There are fine photos in the book of streets, buildings, and businesses that are no more as well as of the once ever-present streetcars. I enjoyed the book and learned a good deal about what has become my city. There are thousands of historic photographs of Washington, D.C. that remain to be explored. This book is a good introduction which has whetted my appetite to learn more about neighborhoods, thoroughfares, back places, and side streets as well as about the monuments and downtown that are nicely documented in this volume.
Robin Friedman
Displaying 1 of 1 review