Archive of 5,000 Images Document the History of San Francisco and the Vehicles That Put It in Motion

Tak­en at the fog-shroud­ed Fer­ry Build­ing in San Fran­cis­co in Jan­u­ary 1906, just months before a mas­sive earth­quake lev­eled the up-and-com­ing city, the strik­ing image above comes from The San Fran­cis­co Munic­i­pal Trans­porta­tion Agency Pho­to­graph­ic Archive, an archive that pro­vides a “visu­al his­to­ry of the city’s pub­lic trans­porta­tion his­to­ry dat­ing back to the ear­ly 20th Cen­tu­ry.”

Fea­tur­ing a col­lec­tion of glass plate, nitrate and acetate neg­a­tives, the liv­ing archive tells “the sto­ry of San Fran­cis­co, its tran­si­tion from a stretch of sand dunes to an inter­na­tion­al­ly acclaimed city, it’s rise from the rub­ble of the dev­as­tat­ing earth­quake of 1906 and the vital role pub­lic trans­porta­tion played and con­tin­ues to play in revi­tal­iz­ing the city.” The archive con­tains near­ly 5,000 images, all neat­ly divid­ed into 14 col­lec­tions. You can enter the archive and start perus­ing here.

via Metafil­ter

Relat­ed Con­tent:

The 1906 San Fran­cis­co Earth­quake: Before and After

Design­er Mas­si­mo Vignel­li Revis­its and Defends His Icon­ic 1972 New York City Sub­way Map

Vin­tage Video: A New York City Sub­way Train Trav­els From 14th St. to 42nd Street (1905)