"A Land Battleship for The Navy: An Armed Car"
Times Wide World Photos
United States, active 1919–1941
August 29, 1958
A gelatin silver press photograph showing a Navy "armed car"—an early armored vehicle demonstrated on a city street to display its firepower and protection.
A sharply dressed man in a straw boater aims a pistol at the boxy armored truck as a thick cloud of smoke erupts between him and the vehicle, set against tenement facades and fire escapes.
As a piece of news photography, the picture dramatizes the arrival of military technology into everyday urban life and illustrates how the press shaped public perception of mechanized warfare and domestic security.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
7 11/16 × 9 3/4" (19.6 × 24.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
The New York Times Collection
Accession
2143.2001
Palette
Exhibitions
