George Grantham Bain (January 7, 1865 – April 20, 1944) was an American photographer. He was known as "the father of foreign photographic news".

Biography

He was born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 7, 1865, to George Bain and Clara Mather. His family moved from Chicago to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. He attended

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

as an undergraduate to study chemistry, and later attained a

law degree A law degree is an academic degree conferred for studies in law. Some law degrees are professional degrees that are prerequisites or serve as preparation for legal careers. These generally include the Bachelor of Civil Law, Bachelor of Laws, an ...

from the same institution. After graduation, Bain became a reporter at the ''

St. Louis Globe-Democrat The ''St. Louis Globe-Democrat'' was a daily print newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1852 until 1986. The paper began operations on July 1, 1852, as ''The Daily Missouri Democrat'', changing its name to ''The Missouri Democrat'' in 18 ...

''. The following year he moved to the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the '' Belleville News-Democra ...

'', where he became the Washington, D.C. correspondent. He worked for

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

before he started the Bain News Service in 1898. He died at age 79, on April 20, 1944, at

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

George Grantham Bain Collection

The George Grantham Bain Collection at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Prints and Photographs Division comprises approximately 40,000 glass plate negatives and 50,000 photographic prints. Most are scanned and have been made available online. Most date from the 1900s to the mid-1920s, but some are as early as the 1860s, and some as late as the 1930s. The majority of Bain's images depict events in New York City, but he also copied extant images of worldwide events for news distribution purposes. "The Bain picture files richly document local sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, political activities including the woman suffrage campaign, conventions and public celebrations", the library notes. There are no known copyright restrictions on the photographs in the Collection, although some of Bain's most important images had historically been marked with a copyright notice to prevent unauthorized distribution.

Gallery

File:Abolish child slavery.jpg, Two girls wearing banners bearing the slogan "ABOLISH CH LDSLAVERY!!" in English and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, 1909 File:Albertina Rasch, gypsy dance, 1915.png,

Albertina Rasch Albertina Rasch (January 19, 1891 – October 2, 1967) was an Austrian-American dancer, company director, and choreographer. Early life Rasch was born in 1891 (although she would later shave five years off her age), in Vienna (in what was then ...

, gypsy dance, 1915 File:Alexandra Fyodorovna LOC 01137u.jpg, Alexandra Fyodorovna File:Argentine Rivadavia Class Battleship 1912.jpg, Argentine ''Rivadavia''-class battleship, 1912 File:Bennett sisters boxing.jpg, The "Bennett Sisters" boxing File:Bleriot's Accident at Reims (August 1909) - George Grantham Bain collection.jpg, Four men with wreckage of Blériot's plane at Reims, 1909 File:BroxSistersToyCar.jpg, The

Brox Sisters The Brox Sisters were an American trio of singing sisters, enjoying their greatest popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s. Early life The sisters were Lorayne (born Eunice, November 11, 1901 – June 14, 1993), Dagmar (later Bobbe) (born ...

, posed with toy car. Left to right: Loryane, Bobbe, Patricia File:Christus - Anton Lang Oberammergau 1900.jpg, Anton Lang as Christ, at the

Oberammergau Passion Play The Oberammergau Passion Play () is a passion play that has been performed every 10 years from 1634 to 1674 and each decadal year since 1680 (with a few exceptions) by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany. It was wr ...

, 1900 File:Doriskenyon 4.jpg,

Doris Kenyon Doris Margaret Kenyon (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1979) was an American actress of film and television. Early life She grew up in Syracuse, New York, where her family had a home at 1805 Harrison Street. Her father, Dr. James B. Keny ...

File:Gun Shop in Armstrong Works LOC ggbain 00178.jpg, The gun shop at Armstrong Works, 1902–1903 File:HMSDreadnought gunsLOCBain17494.jpg, Pair of 12-inch guns on , between 1907-1922 File:Helen Dinsmore Huntingdon.jpg, Helen Dinsmore Huntington File:1912 Indianapolis 500, Joe Dawson winning.jpg, Joe Dawson, winning the

1912 Indianapolis 500 The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912. Indiana-born driver Joe Dawson won the race, leading onl ...

File:Nestorian (Assyrian) Christian family making butter, Mawana, Persia.jpg, Nestorian ( Assyrian) Christian family making butter in Mawana, Persia, date unknown File:Blanche Bates.jpg, American actress

Blanche Bates Blanche Bates (August 25, 1873 – December 25, 1941) was an American actress. Early years Bates was born in Portland, Oregon, while her parents (both of whom were actors) were on a road tour. As an infant, she traveled with them on a tou ...

, dressed for a role in "The Fighting Hope" File:Bob Burman.jpg, Race car driver

Bob Burman Robert R. Burman (April 23, 1884 – April 8, 1916) was an American racing driver. He was an open-wheel pioneer, setting numerous speed records in the early 1900s. He participated in many historic races and was one of the drivers to compete in ...

, 1911 File:Lillian Gish-edit2.jpg, Actress

Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993) was an American actress best known for her work in movies of the silent era. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was dubbed the "F ...

, 1911 File:Madgalen - Bertha Wolf Oberammergau 1900.jpg, Bertha Wolf as

Mary Magdalen Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

, at the

, 1900 File:Mildreddavis.jpg, Actress

Mildred Davis Mildred Hillary Davis (February 22, 1898The reference book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Davis's birth date as January 1, 1900.August 18, 1969) was an American actress who appeared in fifteen of Harold Lloyd's cl ...

, 1921 File:Paulinefrederick 2.jpg, Actress

Pauline Frederick Pauline Frederick (born Pauline Beatrice Libbey; August 12, 1883 – September 19, 1938) was an American stage and film actress. Early life Frederick was born Pauline Beatrice Libbey (later changed to Libby) in Boston in 1883 (some sources stat ...

File:Marioara a Romaniei.jpg,

Maria of Yugoslavia Maria (born Princess Maria of Romania; 6 January 1900 – 22 June 1961), known in Serbian as Marija Karađorđević ( sr-Cyrl, Марија Карађорђевић), was Queen of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1922 to 1929 and Queen of Yu ...

as a child, when she was Princess Marie of Romania File:Ruthstdenis.jpg, Dancer

Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Gene ...

File:Violadana 2.jpg, Actress

Viola Dana Viola Dana (born Virginia Flugrath; June 26, 1897 – July 3, 1987) was an American film actress who was successful during the era of silent films. She appeared in over 100 films, but was unable to make the transition to sound films. Early lif ...

File:Making Death Mask Edit 4.jpg, Making of a

death mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead or be used for creation of portraits. The m ...

, 1908 File:Blanco 4194440295 bbb98c7de6 o.jpg,

Lucio Blanco Lucio Blanco (July 21, 1879 – June 1922) was a Mexican military officer and revolutionary, noteworthy for his participation in the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920. Biography Lucio Blanco was born on July 21, 1879, in Nadadores, Coahuila. H ...

and staff, File:Charles Lindbergh circa 1927.jpg,

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York (state), New York to Paris, a distance of . His aircra ...

References

External links

George Grantham Bain photograph archive
at the

George Grantham Bain photograph archive
at

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

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Bain News Service
at LC Authorities, with 30,000 records {{DEFAULTSORT:Bain, George Grantham 1865 births 1944 deaths 19th-century American journalists 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American photographers 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American photographers American photojournalists Photographers from Chicago Saint Louis University alumni St. Louis Post-Dispatch people