Tag: History

Liberty [updated]

[Update: Image is NOT Isabella Eugénie Boyer; see below.]

The face of the Statue of Liberty. Isabella Boyer’s life is like an exciting novel. She was born in Paris, the daughter of an African pastry chef and an English mother. Isabella had a special beauty and, at age 20, she married Isaac Singer, the sewing machine maker, who was 50 years old. After Singer’s death, Isabella became the richest woman in the country. It is not surprising that she was chosen as the model for the Statue of Liberty, as she embodied the American dream. Widowed, Isabella traveled the world and married the Dutch violinist Victor Robstett, becoming a countess. He became a prominent figure in America and Europe, and met the French sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi at a world event. Bartholdi, impressed by her beauty and history, used her face as a model for the Statue of Liberty. Isabella married a third time and died in Paris in 1904 at age 62, but her face lives on in the iconic statue in New York, symbolizing freedom and American pride.

[Found here, h/t Eaglesoars]

UPDATE: The top image appears to be the work of Bas Uterwijk and is an A.I. generated image of Aphrodite, not Isabella Eugénie Boyer (who may or may not have been the model for the Statue of Liberty).

Isabella Eugénie Boyer (1841-1904)
More about the viral photo here, here and here.
[h/t Gabriel]

D-Day 06 June 1944

The Daily Mail posted an interactive timeline of the D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy, 80 years ago today.

The .Gif Friday Post No. 855 – Painting in the Shade, Window Openers & Normandy Now and Then

[Shade painter gif is comprised of ten photos titled Self-Erasure through Painting by German conceptual artist Timm Ulrichs ca. 1976.
Window openers found here.
Third  gif was morphed from WWII and present day photos of 2 Rte de Saint-Lô, Tessy sur Vire, Normandy, France, found here.

Deterrent In The Deep 1960

From TIME, Vol. 76, No. 5, August 1, 1960, p.18.

Vehicle Mounted Manipulator 1956

“Popular Mechanics (Sep 1956, p.90) drawing made by Frank Tinsley from designs by Lee A. Ohlinger of Northrop Aviation, Inc. of a robot mechanic for the proposed atomic-powered airplane, a star-crossed project that stumbled through 10 years and $500,000 without ever getting off the ground.”

Other designs were developed based on the concept, including the GE “Beetle” of 1961.

[Images & story found here.]

American Indian Chiefs Cigarette Cards – Pt. 3

[See Part 1 & Part 2 for more. Source: Allen & Ginter Cigarette Cards 1888-1889.]

Vukovar, Yugoslavia 1992

Santa Claus with the children during the Croatian War of Independence. Vukovar, 1992.

Vukovar, Yugoslavia in 1992 during the Croatian War of Independence.

The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991.
[…]
During the battle, shells and rockets were fired into the town at a rate of up to 12,000 a day. At the time, it was the fiercest and most protracted battle seen in Europe since 1945, and Vukovar was the first major European town to be entirely destroyed since the Second World War.

A 2013 discussion on Reddit includes analyses of this and other photos found in this collection, and suggests that the Santa photo may have been Yugoslav staged propaganda.

[Image found here indicates a date of 1991.]

Radar Station DYE-2 Greenland

Abandoned DYE-2 radar station, Greenland

The dart is still in the dartboard and the beer is still on the counter in the bar. So untouched is DYE-2. Slowly, the weather and wind have encroached and in a few years it will probably be difficult to get in and see this unique, American cold war relic on the ice sheet in 
Greenland.

[Caption and photos from here  Other photos from here and here.]

7 December 1941

[Previously posted observances of the Day of Infamy here.]

My late father’s stamp, used on almost all of his U.S. Mail correspondence.

Veterans Day 2023

[Previous Armistice Day / Remembrance Day / Veterans Day posts here.]