A story
Dreamland, the fair, and Times Square
Three New York nights, from three different decades, all in the Library of Congress: Dreamland at Coney Island about 1905, fireworks over the World's Fair in 1939 or 1940, and Times Square on December 29, 1953.
In Dreamland at night
Dreamland at Night is Library of Congress item 2016794914, Detroit Publishing Company, reproduction LC-DIG-det-4a12420, call number LC-D4-18317. The piece says the photograph is about 1905 and that the title is "In Dreamland at night, Coney Island, N.Y." Detroit Publishing Co. is the publisher and the copyright claimant. The subjects are amusement parks, night, and lighting. The negative is marked 464. Detroit Publishing Co. number 018317. The Library received it as a gift of the State Historical Society of Colorado in 1949. No known restrictions on publication.
Luna Park, a different park on the same shore, already has a story of its own. This frame is Dreamland. The title on the negative is the one to use. The bulbs are the subject the catalog lists, under lighting.
Fireworks, and a devised title
Fireworks over the World's Fair is Library of Congress item 2018750466, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, call number LC-G605-00496-1/2. The reproduction is a color-corrected film copy slide, LC-G605-CT-00496-1/2. The piece says fireworks over the water at the World's Fair, New York, dated 1939 or 1940. It also says the record notes that the job and item titles were devised. The subject heading is exhibitions. No known restrictions on publication.
A devised title means the words on the catalog card were supplied, not copied from a sleeve that already said them. The picture is still fireworks over water at the fair. The date stays the Library's range, 1939 or 1940, not a single night invented afterward. The rights note points to the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection statement.
Times Square, December 29, 1953
Times Square at Night is Library of Congress item 2018726578, call number LC-G613-64739. The file is an interpositive, LC-G613-T-64739. The piece says Gottscho-Schleisner, December 29, 1953. The sleeve title is "New York City views. Times Square at night III." The subject heading is streets, New York. No known restrictions on publication.
The Roman numeral is part of the sleeve. This is the third in a set of night views, not a unique exposure pretending to be the only one. Hung with Dreamland and the fair, it is the latest of three public records of the city after dark. The dates are about 1905, 1939 or 1940, and December 29, 1953. The Library does not endorse the shop.
The identifiers are worth keeping next to the pictures. Dreamland is LC-D4-18317, negative 464, Detroit Publishing Co. number 018317, item 2016794914, reproduction LC-DIG-det-4a12420. The fair is LC-G605-00496-1/2, a color-corrected film copy slide. Times Square is LC-G613-64739, an interpositive filed as LC-G613-T-64739, item 2018726578. Different copy methods, same rights line where the Gottscho pictures are concerned, and the Detroit line of no known restrictions on Dreamland.
Dreamland entered the Library as a gift of the State Historical Society of Colorado in 1949. The fair and Times Square sit in the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, whose rights statement the pieces point to. Nothing in the three records says the photographers knew one another's negatives. The grouping is the shop's, because all three are New York after dark and all three were free to print. The dates stay as the records wrote them, including the fair's uncertain year.
Times Square's sleeve says the view is the third. The fair's catalog says the title was devised. Dreamland's negative already carried its title, "In Dreamland at night, Coney Island, N.Y." Three different relationships between a picture and its words. The prints should keep that, rather than smoothing all three into one night-in-the-city caption. The years do not collapse.
