robertrunyon

The New York Sun., June 19, 1916, page 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1916-06-19/ed-... is almost entirely about the call for National Guards from all states to mobilize for possible service on the Mexican border and some details for New York National Guard. The entire NY guard was "expected at Camp Whitman as soon after noon today as possible." The evening world., June 27, 1916, Final Edition, page 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1916-06-27/ed-... reports that the 7th regiment was one of the first to head for the Mexican border, starting its rail trip on June 27, 1916 The evening world., June 30, 1916, Final Edition, page 1, column 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1916-06-30/ed-... indicates that NY guard troops would be based along a ten-mile stretch of the border between Harlingen and Sam Fordyce, Texas (about 30 miles west of Brownsville). New-York tribune., July 01, 1916, Page 2, col 6 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1916-07-01/ed-... indicates that details of troop movement were to be censored. The Sun and New York press., July 07, 1916, Page 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030430/1916-07-07/ed-... has a picture captioned "The Seventh gets a real rest on Texas soil." Given that this picture and a neighboring one seem to be of making camp, the date would likely be early July, 1916.

The Sun and New York press, July 05, 1916, Page 3 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030430/1916-07-05/ed-... suggests arrival by July 2 (Sunday).

Also in the Robert Runyon collection. There this is identified as the 14th NY Infantry

Interesting that the Runyon original is not blurry. Must have been a bad copy job by Bain. According to this regimental history of the 14th: "Mexican Border Service Their next call to duty was the Mexican Border Service on July 19, 1916. Their order was a ten day hike across the wastes of Hidalgo County, Texas. The conditions were harsh and often consisted of temperatures reaching 120 degrees with no shade to block them from the sun. In September they were ordered home and shortly thereafter mustered out of service." dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/numbered/14thReg.htm

I don't think one is any more or less blurry than the other, but the increased contrast of all the Bain pix relative to the Runyon originals washes out a lot of detail. I don't know whether that's an unavoidable side effect of copying in the early 20th century or if it was done on purpose to make newspaper friendly halftones easier.

This is a slightly cropped version of a pic from the Robert Runyon Collection. Identified there as "Fort Brown, Artillery maneuvers, 1916"

Thanks for connecting these images with the Runyon Collection. We'll add some of the information to our record the next time we update.

From photographer Robert Runyon, captioned "Machine Gun Troops" hdl.loc.gov/loc.award/txuruny.00791

Thanks artolog. We'll add Runyon's name to the record the next time we update.