xp from nest: aw! and too cool not to share!!

shanwalk2

ETA: posted on the nest too... but wasn't sure how many of you guys double up on checking the boards 

DH and I were out yesterday looking at apartments.  One lobby had these awesome photos of Austin back in the 1920s, 1930s, etc.  A photo of Barton Creek with ladies wearing the "old style" suits, The Capitol with Model T Fords parked right out front, Congress Ave with a dirt road, etc.  DH loves stuff like that so he asked where they found those and the lady working happend to know that the owner got them at some "Austin Historical Something"....

So after a bit of googling we found the Austin History Center:  www.cityofaustin.org/library/ahc and they sell old photos of Austin to the public.  You can buy some of their "favorites" from their website.  DH and I decided to go down there today (any excuse to go downtown on a beautiful day!) and see what else they had. 

Come to find out they had hundreds and hundreds and hudreds of photos from the 1800s through today of Austin and you can pick whatever you want and they will have them printed for you in any size.  DH and I have been desperate for art for our living room and we love photography so we went hog wild!!!

We ended up buying 4 prints, each 16''x20'' and we'll get them matted and framed to hang together over our couch.  One is of the Paramount Theatre in the 1930s with the old cars parked outside, One of the 360 bridge, One of Congress and the Capitol at night in 1920, and One of the UT tower in the 1930s!  Then we bought a 24''x36'' print of the 360 bridge to have matted and framed and we plan to hang over our bed.  We ended up spending way more money than we anticipated - but what a great thing to offer and I'm happy that it goes back to the Library system in Austin.

Out of the 5 we bought, only one is featured on their website: 

but they have other great ones like this: 

The people working at the History Center were awesome and we can't wait to get out photographs displayed!!!

Things like this make me loooove Austin!  And when we have weather like this it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside about the city that I live in!

joyco

Haha!  I'm so glad you learned this!  My sister worked at the Austin History Center for YEARS and was always saying how she thought more people needed to know about this service.  It is an amazing archive they have there, isn't it?

shanwalk2

joyco:

Haha!  I'm so glad you learned this!  My sister worked at the Austin History Center for YEARS and was always saying how she thought more people needed to know about this service.  It is an amazing archive they have there, isn't it?

Yes! It is so amazing.  There were so many more cool photographs... I could have decorated a 3,000 sf house with just that photography!  It was a great experience to go in there and see so much history in photography.

brideonjuly8

That's very cool!  A big b&w print like that would look great in our new office!

Abrooks

Cool!!  I will have to check that out for sure!

amyinaustin

what a cool service - thanks so much for letting us know about it!

lauraleither

Wow!  Those look great!!!  Thanks for the tip.

FeistyFille

Thanks for posting!  That's really cool.

thethomps

That is AWESOME!  And you may have just given me an idea for DH's graduation present.  The UT tower pic is so cool.

shanwalk2

thethomps:

That is AWESOME!  And you may have just given me an idea for DH's graduation present.  The UT tower pic is so cool.

they have tons of great ones of the towers!  I think that would make an awesome gift. 

The 8x10 (print only... no frame) is $30 - and the 16x20'' were $40.  (they had a size between that.. but I forgot).  We also got a (huge) 24x36 that we'll get matted and framed for $75.

My dad loves Austin and old cars... so I think we're going to do something with Congress and the old cars driving around for his birthday.