1906 And Today, The Earthquake Blend By Shawn Clover

Mayor Eugene Schmitz put out an authorization for the federal troops and police to shoot and kill looters. Thousands of tents and temporary relief houses went up to house 20,000 displaced people. The city was in disarray. But photography was a common hobby by 1906 and thousands of photos have survived to this day. One photographer even flew his 46 pound camera on a kite to get aerial shots of the aftermath. Some color photographs have even been found.
The Project
After sifting through catalogs of library photos of the devastation of San Francisco’s 1906 earthquake, Shawn Clover picked out a variety of photos taken from April 18, 1906 to 1907 that he felt give a well-rounded depiction of what was going on in the city at the time.