An antique snapshot photo album containing over 500 photographs documenting American life from 1913 through 1918, chronicling a photographer's journey from college student to World War I airman. The album opens with photographs at Ohio State University in 1913, featuring chemistry students, athletics, and dorm rooms. Notable images include football games between Ohio State University and Indiana in November 1913 and Ohio State University and Case in October 1913. The album includes extensive photographs of the destruction caused by the Great Flood of 1913, depicting destroyed bridges, railroad tracks, and widespread flooding.
The photographer's travels continue with a trip to Washington, D.C., in 1913, including views in and around the Capitol building, the White House, and Mount Vernon, followed by a trip to Philadelphia with photographs of Independence Hall and the Betsy Ross House. The album includes photographs of the Madison County Fair and Ohio State Fair, construction work on railroads with views of a steam shovel at work, and farm life featuring large horses, chickens, pigs, farm labor, and machinery. Two photographs capture an early automobile race on a track, appearing to show a motorcycle versus car. Additional images depict young boys drinking, smoking, fishing, and gathered around campfires.
Midway through the album, young men begin appearing in military garb of the First World War, interspersed with continued photographs of farm life. The photographer appears to enlist and photographs from Camp Perry appear, showing soldiers training and in formation. The album then returns to farm life before transitioning to photographs from San Antonio, Texas, where the photographer appears to be stationed. These images include soldiers using what appear to be Colt machine guns and Vickers machine guns.
The photographer seems to be enlisted with airmen or to be an airman himself, and the album transitions to numerous photographs of biplanes in training, including multiple images of plane crashes. Several photographs are taken from flight. One photograph is labeled Camp Taliaferro, a World War I flight training center operated by the Air Service, United States Army, in the Fort Worth, Texas, area. The album continues with extensive flight training documentation, including photographs with cross hairs that appear to be taken from the vantage point of aircraft-mounted weapons. Many more photographs are taken in flight, and one image shows the barracks at Taliaferro.
Following Camp Taliaferro, the photographer is in Europe, beginning with photographs of the Eiffel Tower and a ferris wheel in Paris, France. Many photographs document aircraft including de Havilland planes in November 1918. Numerous images show airmen in period dress, including leather jackets, flight helmets, and goggles. From this point the album alternates between photographs taken back in the United States, including Texas dating back to 1913, and many from France and Europe during World War I. Additional photographs from the war include images taken in Italy, including a photograph of two soldiers posing with a sign reading "Armistice is Signed." Further photographs depict Paris and Brest, including an image inside Napoleon's tomb, what appears to be a servicemembers graveyard labeled "Field 13," and artillery being fired in front of Hotel des Invalides, where the album concludes.
