danielguggenheim

This appears to be Guggenheim's testimony before the Walsh Commission at New York's City Hall on January 21, 1915. Guggenheim was a copper magnate. Other pictures from the Commission hearings in New York are in the Bain collection: www.flickr.com/search/?w=8623220@N02&q=walsh%20commis... I don't know why the picture is dated 1926. Perhaps it was pulled for another use at that time.

artolog, You're correct - this definitely seems to be a photograph of Guggenheim's testimony before the Walsh Commission. And yes, I think your supposition about the other date on the image reflecting a later usage is correct as well. On January 18, 1926, the date on the photo, Guggenheim was in the news for pledging $2.5 million to then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in order to establish the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. We will update the record to reflect more details - as well as make sure the other images from the Walsh Commission hearings are more accurately labeled. Thanks for your help!

Mystery solved.. and you're welcome.. I've learned a lot from dipping into the Walsh Commission history as a result of LOC's sharing of these photos. There was a lot of rage, anarchy and revolution in the air, and the Commission brought the key players, as well as social and economic thinkers and doers together for a public examination of the ills of Capitalism at the end of the Gilded Age. Though it had no power to do anything, it showed people that we were a democracy where controversial issues could be examined publicly.

Daniel Guggenheim (July 9, 1856 – September 28, 1930) was an American industrialist and philanthropist, and a son of Meyer Guggenheim. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Guggenheim

Richard, Thank You for all your input on these photos. It makes them so much more interesting and easy to access for some of us. Have question, There appears to be a date on the lower left edge of this one I can't quite make out. I think it reads __/17/17. Maybe you can make it out . My eyes are to old and tired. Again Thank You.

I think that date may be 1912. LOC could check on the original negative to be sure. His brother, Benjamin Guggenheim, drowned in the sinking of the Titanic, April 20, 1912.

The date is quite hard to read, but I think it's 9/17/1912. Thanks for spotting it, Mona.

No, I thank you. I am honored to participate. However in saying that I have restudied the photo and am convinced the year is 1917. The top of the 7 is too square to be a 2. But the day of the month is rounded, it could be a 12. That 9 is backwards to the other numbers, (it messes with me. ) 9/12/17 looks good to me. Maybe we'll get lucky and find where it was used, and it may remain a mystery. Either way It Is History.. I truly enjoy this stream.

Shot at the same time: www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3775431272/

Thanks Lu, I knew I had seen this one but kept forgetting to go back to it. It looks like the same session, at a slightly different angle. Pete, the date on this one is on the upper left side, below the white tape about an inch. It is more deteriorated than the other. :(

Wikipedia article. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Guggenheim

Guggenheim was a copper magnate, president of the American Smelting Refining Company. Photo date is inscribed on negative, in reverse: 8-6-[19]13.

This is on board a ship. August 7, 1913 NYT lists Isaac Guggenheim as a passenger on the Imperator. query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9404E0DF123FE633A... Perhaps the journalist got the brothers mixed up, or perhaps both brothers were on board.