Militaria, Vintage Clothing, Collectibles
Lot 130:
Description
Tunic, overseas cap and mackinaw. Direct family purchase, from the Bob Ford Collection. The 19th Photo Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps was one of more than forty photographic units deployed with the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. Organized in 1918 as part of the second wave of Signal Corps photographic detachments, the section typically included around 25?30 men?officers, cameramen, drivers, and darkroom staff?equipped with bulky 4_5 and 5_7 Graflex and view cameras, motion picture equipment, and mobile darkrooms mounted on trucks. Stationed near the front, the 19th was tasked with recording combat operations, aviation fields, artillery positions, and engineering works, as well as the daily life of American troops. Their output was used for both military intelligence and home-front propaganda, and contributed to the more than 60,000 photographs and 400,000 feet of motion picture film produced by the Signal Corps in 1917?1918. The work of the 19th Photo Section survives today in archives such as the U.S. National Archives and the Signal Corps Collection, where many of their images remain among the most vivid records of America?s role in the Great War. Original photographs or documents tied to this section are scarce, and represent an important link to the pioneering efforts of America?s first combat photographers.
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