know photographs

[stuartwsa]

I remember seeing some drawings from the coverage of the trial in the NY Recorder. One of the captions read something like: "From a snapshot taken at Lizzie Borden." The indication was that the drawings had been made from photographs. Oh my God, if they could only be found today!

[Kat]

That picture was apparently identified as being taken at the house in Newport. Is it in Pearson? I know it's in Brown.

Apparently some few newspapers had the where-with-all to take a photo now and then and then render a drawing from it.

I would like to know from where Muriel Arnold's niece got that *Birds-Eye-View* picture of the back side of the Borden property looking from the Chagnon area west, in order to draw it. Anyone know or seen it anywhere else?
And how did one render a Second Street bird's-eye-view in 1892 or 1893, anyway?

[doug65oh]

"....and how did one render a Second Street bird's-eye-view in 1892 or 1893, anyway?"

The best logical guess I might make is hiring a balloon to take the artist up.. I know that had been done years earlier during the War, primarily for observation purposes and map-making expeditions.

Nearby church cupolas (I think that's the correct term) might also have been helpful.

[Kat]

That's inspired!
However, the view from the front is northwest toward southeast- the church spire of the cathedral is on the southeast.
Was there maybe a multistory building at the north end of Second Street, across the street? Maybe someone went up on a roof?
Is that really how they did that?

[Edisto]

I have a panoramic pictorial map of Fall River, dated 1877, that literally shows an aerial view of every building in town as of that time. (Some buildings are partially obscured by other structures, however.) The map is drawn; it isn't a photograph. As I recall, several other people who post here have copies too. I think it came from eBay. It's credited to the Library of Congress. I've seen similar maps of other cities. Even though it was done by an artist, that person would have needed detailed photos of the buildings (or drawn from "life"). The copy I have measures about 15" by 22-1/2". My eyesight isn't what it once was, so I have trouble picking out individual landmarks without a strong magnifier. It must have taken incredible effort to put such aerial views together. I assume it was a concerted effort, because there are such maps of many U. S. cities. I don't recall how it was described on eBay when I bought it, but more information could probably be gained from the Internet.

(Posted later) Yes...there's one for sale on eBay now. It's number 6555586323. The guy who sells these apparently does a land-office business. It's a nice item for the price, although the one that's on eBay now is smaller than the one I have. (If that auction is closed, the map can usually be located by simply searching on "Fall River MA.") There's some info on the company that made the map (or "aero-view" as it's sometimes called). No real data on how it was done, though.