1929 Boston Haymarket Pushcart Produce Peddlers Glass Plate Negative OOAK
Original, one-of-a-kind (OOAK) camera-original antique 4x5 gelatin silver glass plate negative captured in 1929 by legendary Boston Herald-Traveler press photographer Leslie Jones, documenting the vibrant open-air pushcart market at Haymarket in Boston, Massachusetts.
Shot from an elevated bird's-eye perspective looking down onto the crowded cobblestone street, this masterclass in Depression-era documentary street photography captures dozens of wooden pushcarts packed axle-to-axle. Immigrant vendors, purveyors, and shoppers navigate the narrow aisle between carts stacked high with farm produce, cabbages, root vegetables, citrus, and crates. Boston's historic Haymarket pushcart market was the pulsating culinary and commercial lifeblood for the city's working-class and immigrant neighborhoods, operating continuously through the centuries.
The razor-sharp, high-angle composition reveals extraordinary social and documentary detail:
Tightly parked wooden handcarts laden with crates of leafy greens, cabbages, apples, potatoes, and wrapped merchandise.
Flat-capped vendors and patrons in wool overcoats bartering over produce along the cobblestone pavement.
A vintage late-1920s delivery truck parked at the upper street margin amidst the bustling crowd.
Format: Heavy antique silver gelatin glass plate negative, exposed directly in Leslie Jones's press camera in 1929.
Archive Sleeve Included: Accompanied by its original vintage tan kraft darkroom filing sleeve, bearing contemporary newsroom pencil notations: "Market (Boston) / Push Carts / Haymarket / 1929 / Leslie Jones", along with its inner paper archival sleeve marked "Market Push Carts".
Please Note: This listing is for the original antique glass plate negative and its period paper archive sleeve only. Any positive photographic images shown in this listing are modern inverted digital scans provided solely as a visual representation to show what a finished photograph prints like. No physical paper photograph, modern print, or paper product of any kind is included with this purchase.
Condition: Very Good antique condition. Heavy glass plate is intact with no cracks or hairline fractures across the image field. Emulsion exhibits crisp focus, rich contrast, and remarkable textural resolution throughout the produce displays and figures. Features authentic perimeter emulsion loss/lifting along the left edge margin outside the primary street composition, consistent with a working 1929 newsroom press plate. Accompanied by both original period paper archive sleeves.
The glass plate negative measures 4 x 5In.
If you collect glass negatives, please check out our collection in our store. We are currently listing thousands of original glass photo negatives from this DJD collection through the remainder of the year. Follow our store, and feel free to reach out about any questions about the negatives in this collection.
Ships with extreme care in archival materials to ensure safe transit. Feel free to reach out with any requests or questions).
Combined shipping is available (with other glass negatives)
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