The Bach Concert Series has received a generous donation from one of our regular concert goers.  There are twelve prints of historical photos of Baltimore in the 1910-1930 era.   Our donor purchased these years ago in the 1970s in a sidewalk sale at Maryland Institute College of Art.  Most are taken by the Hughes Photography Company, a Baltimore Company.  The Hughes Company was a commercial photography studio in Baltimore, Maryland which made photographs for corporations, the government, and private individuals. The company was founded by James F. Hughes (d. ca. 1903), who was first listed as a photographer in the Baltimore directory in 1877. In 1889, Hughes advertised his services as a “practical photographer” in the Daily News and operated from quarters at 1414 Patterson Avenue. Many of the company’s photographs were made with an 8 x 10 inch view camera.  The Hughes Company existed until the late 1970s, right around the time these photos were purchased by our donor.

We will be offering three of these prints following each of our remaining concerts in 2012 until they are all sold.

We will give each buyer a letter recognizing their contribution for tax purposes.

Price: $200 each.

No.1: Traffic in downtown Baltimore ca. 1930.  The store of Andrew Reiter, wholesale grocers, is visible at the left of the photo.  Andrew Reiter & Co. was located at 402 East Lombard Street, near the intersection of Lombard and Commerce Street.  The present day location is near the Customs House on Lombard Street. (Click on each image to enlarge.)

No.2: Streetcar coming east on Baltimore Street near the intersection of Calvert Street.  Flags strung across the street may indicate a parade day.  The Brockton Shoe Company and Fader’s Tobacconist (107 East Baltimore Street) is visible in the photo.  Present day location is across the street from Charles Center looking west on Baltimore Street.

No.3: This print was a Hughes Company photos taken in 1915.  The original is in the Photography collections at UMBC.  It is entitled “Birds-eye view of Pratt Street, showing Uneeda Biscuit sign & building”.  Uneeda was a division of National Biscuit Company (Nabisco).

Uneeda was the first to use a sealed package in 1898. Until then, crackers were sold unbranded and packed loosely in barrels. Mothers would give their sons a paper bag and ask them to run down to the store and get the bag filled with crackers. National Biscuit Company used this as part of Uneeda Biscuit advertising symbol, which depicts a boy carrying a pack of Uneeda Biscuit in the rain.

Uneeda was one of the first mass marketed products outside of its region, due to the “sanitary packaging” it promoted as being a step above the cracker barrel in terms of health and convenience. National Biscuit Co. launch the first prepackaged biscuit, Uneeda, with the slogan “Lest you forget, we say it yet, Uneeda Biscuit.” In 2009 (after over 110 years), Nabisco discontinued the Uneeda biscuit.

The photo was taken on Pratt Street, and also shows the Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat Company and attendant wharf activity.  The Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat Company or Ericsson Line, was incorporated in Maryland on February 23, 1844. Known as the Ericsson Line, the company operated special narrow propeller ships between Baltimore and Philadelphia through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.  The company was sued by the city of Baltimore following the 1904 fire.  The city subsequently widened Pratt Street and the company was rebuilt.

Can you guess where these were taken??