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Car Wrecks of Old Boston

Print | Comments () Posted by Josh Rothman May 31, 2012 03:00 PM

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Plus ça change: On Flickr, the Boston Public Library is offering a huge cache of photographs of vintage Boston car accidents. The photos are part of the Library's extraordinary Leslie Jones Collection: Jones was a photographer for the Boston Herald-Traveler from 1917 to 1956. "The collection," the curators write, "is a stunning pictorial document of the history of Boston in the 20th century, and a tribute to the craft and artistry of a man who by doing his job preserve the past on glass and film."

Rarely have morbid curiosity, old-timey nostalgia, and civic pride been combined so effectively. See the rest of the photos -- which appear here courtesy of the Boston Public Library, and are copyright Leslie Jones -- here.

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