brian cassidy bookselle

30.
[Catastrophes]: [Photography]
ICE STORM, VAN HORNESVILLE NY, DECEMBER 28-31 1942
[Interior Title]. [Original Photo Album]
Van Hornesville, NY, 1942
Oblong folio, 15.5” x 11” approx. Brown faux-leather commercial
album, string-tied with “Photographs” printed at front cover.
Hand-written title page in white pencil followed by 84 photographs
corner-mounted rectos only (with one exception) on 25 leaves. Ten 8”
x 10" photographs and 64 various snapshot sizes. Twelve blank leaves
at rear. Most photographs captioned by hand in white pencil. Generally
very good with several small scratches to front cover, leaves
suffer some edge-wear with minor loss, not affecting photographs
which are generally fine. Also: partial copy of the ALBANY TIMES UNION
dated January 3, 1942 — which published many of these photographs.
And: letter from the New York Telephone Co. dated January 4, 1943
addressing telephone outages resulting from the storm.
Photographs of the immediate aftermath of four-day ice storm in Van
Hornesville, NY taken by a New York Power and Light worker during
reconstruction efforts. One of the worst ice storms in New England
history, the 1942 event led to ice six inches deep in some places and
cut power and closed roads in the area for many days. Contained in
this album are the expected images related to power service: downed
poles, lines covered with ice, workers making repairs, and like. But
also present are general landscapes, roads, downed trees, debris,
homes, as well as people posing with the ice. One of the homes featured
prominently in the album was the residence of Owen D. Young,
businessman, industrialist, diplomat and founder of the Radio Corporation
of America (RCA), who was born in Van Hornesville and retired
to his family farm there in 1939. The Van Horn School, founded by
Young and later named in his honor, is also featured in several photographs.
Taken by a more than competent photographer, the images
are clear and well-composed, showing the breadth and severity of the
damage. A skillful album of uncommon focus and unity, and a singular
document of regional history.
-850-
43