Car Crash Photography Archive--1076 Car Crash Photos plus other Disaster Photography and Ephemera, Mostly 1940's-1960's. Lifetime Collection
Car Crash Photography Archive--1076 Car Crash Photos plus other Disaster Photography and Ephemera, Mostly 1940's-1960's. Lifetime Collection
Collection includes:
--1076 Car Crash Photos
--84 Plane Crash Photos with 7 fire related disaster photos
--3 1940's Scrapbooks of car wreck newspaper clippings
--3 vintage auto safety magazines
--Car Crashes & Other Sad Stories book by Mell Kilpatrick (Taschen Press, 2000)
As one might imagine of an archive of this size--which fills two banker box--content and condition vary greatly. Photos sourced from files of news agencies, amateur efforts to professionally shot and sleeved images. Press photos may have crop marks and location/ photographer info on verso. Fair to fine condition. Most are loose; some are in sleeves.
This remarkable collection represents a 25-year passion for one collector of car wreck photos. The inspiration for this collection was the Taschen book published in the year 2000 titled "Car Crashes & Other Sad Stories" featuring disaster photography by Southern California Press Photographer Mell Kilpatrick (1902-1962). Included in the collection are several Kilpatrick photos which are quite collectible.
In the collector's own words, "Number one...I was NOT looking for pictures of wrecked cars but of actual on-scene car crashes! I doubt there are more than a half dozen shots of cars in repair or junk yards. Second, I especially liked on-scene shots including people, be they gawkers, law enforcement, survivors or victims. Third I kept an eye out for what I thought was good composition. Other than that, I focused on pre-1970 although there are a few which go as late as 1990!"
Most of the collection was acquired singly or in small sets. Within the collection there is at least one subset featuring just taxicab wrecks. The plane wreck subset all seems to be from Florida.
Like a bad movie, each image is hard to look away from. Each photo tells a narrative. Many are works of art with well composed views while others are strictly documenting the scene. Some of the better photos depict witnesses and rescue personnel arriving within minutes of the wreck.
And of course, who doesn't cringe at seeing that 1947 Cadillac reduced to scrap with its owner standing forlornly by.
We will scan a large variety of images. A copy of the Taschen book comes with the collection.
This is a heavy archive all on photo paper and will incur a shipping surcharge of $70, domestic only. Item #2483
Price: $11,500.00