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WW1 - 1914-1918
" Looks of War photographers "
" Regards de photographes de Guerre"
9000 photos
438 pages
HELEN JOHNS KIRTLAND
PHOTOGRAPHER
page 1
Helen Johns Kirtland with Italian soldiers near Piave River, Italy
Photograph shows American photographer Helen Johns Kirtland conversing
with soldiers outdoors; one soldier holds newspaper La Tribuna Illustrata.
October 1918
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
[close up]
Helen Johns Kirtland with Italian soldiers near Piave River, Italy
Photograph shows American photographer Helen Johns Kirtland conversing
with soldiers outdoors; one soldier holds newspaper La Tribuna Illustrata.
October 1918
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
Italian soldier holding illustrated newspaper gets his cigarette lit by another soldier
near Piave River, Italy
October 1918
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
Helen Johns Kirtland in trench during World War I;
she is wearing a helmet and great coat, and has a gas mask hanging around her neck
between 1917 and 1919
Exhibited: "Who's Afraid of Women Photographers?"
at the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France, Oct. 2015-Jan. 2016.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
Helen Johns Kirtland listening for aircraft using acoustic radar
Photograph shows American photographer Helen Johns Kirtland
listening through tubes as two soldiers stand by smoking.
between 1918 and 1919
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
Flirting with the monocle on horseback
Photograph shows Helen Johns Kirtland, standing in an open car,
riding on a beach with men in uniform as soldiers march past.
ca. 1919
Exhibited:
"Who's Afraid of Women Photographers?"
at the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France, Oct. 2015-Jan. 2016.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
Helen Johns Kirtland was an early woman war photojournalist active
at the end of World War I.
She was the “the first and only woman correspondent allowed at the front
after Caporetto, the 1917 Italian retreat in which 275,000 troops were captured.”
As a photojournalist, Kirtland worked for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly in Europe a
nd was also associated with the YMCA, which provided physical fitness
and swimming classes to the soldiers.
Like many of her male colleagues, she covered a variety of subjects that required
facing danger and capturing images that could be readily published to convey
the war visually.
In 1981, the Library of Congress received a gift from Mark and Birk Hinderaker of some four thousand photos taken by Helen and her husband Lucian Swift Kirtland.
The Kirtland Collection at the Library of Congress includes about
two hundred images of World War I and its aftermath.
The earliest images are family portraits, and the bulk of the collection represents
their post war travels in Europe and Asia. Although relatively little documentation has been found to date, Helen’s life and career merit further study.
Helen Johns Kirtland at spent mine, probably near Ypres, Belgium
1919
Gift/Purchase; Ivan and Hinderaker/Walter Grossman; 1981
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
Helen Johns Kirtland in open car surrounded by Italian soldiers near Piave River, Italy
Photograph shows American photographer Helen Johns Kirtland
being driven in a car with the top down.
October 1918
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
School children viewing an exhibition of English World War I posters, possibly in Russia
between 1918 and 1919
Possible location of exhibition based on Cyrillic alphabet
on sign beneath poster in similar photograph.
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
Wounded soldiers viewing an exhibition of English World War I posters, possibly in Russia
between 1918 and 1919
Possible location of exhibition based on Cyrillic alphabet
on sign beneath poster in similar photograph.
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).
Helen Johns Kirtland leaning on a globe
Photograph shows a portrait of Helen Johns Kirtland, full-length, facing right,
leaning on a massive globe, with a wall of book shelves in the background.
ca. 1919
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
Lucian and Helen Johns Kirtland, full-length portrait, facing front, both holding cameras
between 1910 and 1920
Lucian Kirtland Collection
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
At ease in the front line trenches
Photograph shows Helen Johns Kirtland, seated, and her husband, Lucian S. Kirtland, standing.
ca. 1919
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C
Helen Johns Kirtland seated at table with Italian military officers near Piave River, Italy
Photograph shows American photographer Helen Johns Kirtland
with group of Italian military officers at table covered with bottles of wine.
October 1918
Helen Johns Kirtland and Lucian Swift Kirtland photographs of World War I in Europe
(Library of Congress).