Richmond in the 50's

The Library of VA has posted some very cool pictures of Richmond life in the 1950s on www.flickr.com/commons (click on the Library of Virginia logo. Its the multicolored book looking thing under the Smithsonian logo). Some of my favorites include the Byrd Airport terminal in '56, a school Valentine dance, a country band, an aerial view of Parker Field (?), a Richmond Dept. of Public Works display at a show at the Mosque telling people how to keep their fence nice and neat and many other cool shots. Also check to see the aerial view of Broad & Staples Mill and there is nothing there.

Here is the LVA's press release:
An exciting new exhibition, Richmond by Rice, opens at the Library of Virginia on October 6, 2008 and runs through January 3, 2009. The exhibition features a selection of images from the Adolph B. Rice Photograph Collection documenting Richmond in the 1950s.

A prolific photographer and active member of the Virginia Professional Photographers Association, Rice maintained a commercial studio in Richmond for more than a decade. His assignments ranged from studio portraits, to aerial views to advertising shots for local department stores.

While individual images from the Rice collection have occasionally appeared in publications and exhibitions, it was not until recently that a large percentage of the 16,000 negatives in the collection were printed for study and use by the general public. The Library has exact dates for many of the photographs, but most of the individuals and places featured in Rice’s images remain unknown. In addition to the exhibition, the Library will also take its place alongside such institutions as the Library of Congress, the Powerhouse Museum (Australia), and Bibliotheque de Toulouse (France) by making a selection of its photographs available to millions worldwide through the online photo-sharing Web site Flickr. Putting Adolph Rice’s photographs on Flickr offers history enthusiasts the chance to help identify and provide captions for the photographs. “Sometimes solutions come from unexpected places,” said Dale Neighbors, coordinator of prints and photographs at the Library. “We need help identifying these Richmond photographs taken in the 1950s. By using Flickr we’re hoping to harness the power of the crowd. Everyone can contribute their individual knowledge about Richmond history and together we can accomplish something we would never do otherwise.”
The Library invites the public to identify the images and provide captions for the more than 200 Rice Studio photographs on Flickr. Log on to "The Commons" www.flickr.com/commons, click on the Library of Virginia logo, and see if you recognize scenes of Richmond from 50 years ago.