?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(MISSISSIPPI RIVER.) Album of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. 52 photographs, each about 3 x 5 inches, laid down on heavy sheets and bound into a post binder, 11½ x 9½ inches, with period "1927" sticker on front; moderate staining to binder, minor wear and foxing to contents. Mississippi and Louisiana, 1927
The Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the worst natural disasters in American history, a slow-moving tragedy which killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands over the course of several months. The impact fell disproportionately on Black agricultural workers in the south, who were crowded into squalid relief camps, triggering increased migration to northern cities.
This album captures many facets of the flood. 3 views show Black refugees in a crude tent encampment. Others show partially submerged rail cars, workers along nearly breached levees, and flooded streets of small towns. Those views which can be identified are all from a small geographical area. Two are views of the Vicksburg, MS waterfront; some are from across the river in downtown Tallulah, LA. The final image is of the USDA Delta Laboratory, just across the river from Vicksburg in Delta, LA. The photographer is unknown, and photographs are not captioned, but are numbered 1 through 52 in pencil. The first page has a typed note, "Names of parties wishing photographs," suggesting that this volume was used as a sample book for collecting orders. The versos are not visible, but these are about the right size and paper stock to be Real Photo postcards.
With--a September 1927 National Geographic article on the flood; and an unrelated 5 x 7-inch photograph by Macy, "Home of R.D. Galloway after Storm, Green Forest, Ark," 18 March 1927.
