The EPA Photographed Cincinnati for Five Months and Found Nothing Wrong
In May 1973 the Environmental Protection Agency sent a photographer named Tom Hubbard into one city block of downtown Cincinnati and left him there until September.
Transcript
Cold open
R001 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: LIGHTED WATERS OF TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10737). View the original.
The Environmental Protection Agency paid for this photograph. Nothing in it is wrong.
R002 A NOBLE BATH IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10770). View the original.
It paid for a hundred and ninety-one more. All of them made within one city block of downtown Cincinnati, between May and September of nineteen seventy-three.
R003 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: AT CORNER OF 5TH AND VINE STREETS
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10725). View the original.
Why an agency built to photograph pollution spent five months on people eating lunch. And what the same photographer went up a hill and photographed in September.
The first law
The project was called DOCUMERICA. In January of nineteen seventy-two its director, Gifford Hampshire, sent every photographer this memorandum. It opens by quoting a biologist.
R072 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: FASCINATION OF SHIFTING REFLECTIONS IN CHROME AND STONE SCULPTURE
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10696). View the original.
The First Law of Ecology, as stated by Barry Commoner. Everything is connected to everything else.
Then he warned them the work would be dull. Construction of a new municipal sewage treatment plant, he wrote, is hardly an exciting picture possibility.
R079 WATERING THE SHRUBBERY AT NOON IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10757). View the original.
Yet, such pictures must be taken.
R073 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: NOON CROWD ENJOYS THE SUN THE FLAGPOLE STEPS
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10699). View the original.
And he told them what the file was for. To honestly document the environmental happenings, and non-happenings, of this decade.
Every regional office had its own set of problems. And, in the memorandum's own quotation marks, its own planned accomplishments.
And on page two, the sentence that explains everything. The principal guideline is a nineteen seventy-two baseline of the environmental problems and accomplishments in the area assigned to you.
R074 FOUNTAIN SQUARE FLOWER STALL, WHICH DOES BUSINESS ON WEEKDAYS ONLY, MAKES A SHADY BOWER ON SUNDAY
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10744). View the original.
And then a second permission. You are free to add environmental subjects outside the agency's own charter.
Assignment 0081
Problems and accomplishments. The surviving list of assignments runs from number twenty-three to number one hundred and fifty, and this is the entry for one of them.
R075 VINE STREET ENTRANCE TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. BASE OF DU BOIS TOWER AT LEFT. TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN AT CENTER RIGHT
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10755). View the original.
Fiche numbers one seventy-nine through one eighty-two. Tom Hubbard. Assignment eighty-one. Cincinnati, Ohio.
R004 TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE. TRUCK IS ON FIFTH STREET. INTERSECTING STREET IS VINE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10830). View the original.
The description of the work is one sentence long. Variety of activities in Fountain Square showing how the man-made environment contributes to urban life. Not damages. Contributes.
Then the shot list. Lunch hour scenes. Conversation. Sun worshippers. Light poles. Couples.
R076 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10693). View the original.
Guitar player. Chess game. Sleeper. Pigeons. Bicyclists. Escalator.
R005 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10690). View the original.
The bronze fountain at the center of it was a hundred and two years old. Hubbard was born in nineteen thirty-one, and he had five months.
What a square is
R006 CAREW TOWER, BUILT IN THE 1930'S, IS REFLECTED IN THE DU BOIS TOWER, BUILT IN THE 60'S. THEY STAND OPPOSITE EACH OTHER IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10761). View the original.
Carew Tower, built in the nineteen thirties, reflected in the glass of a tower built in the sixties. The caption notes that the two of them stand opposite each other.
May
R007 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: DELIVERY MAN PAUSES TO READ SIGNS OF PRO-ARAB PICKETS
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10684). View the original.
His first roll is dated May. He began with an argument. A delivery man stops his hand truck to read the signs of a picket line.
R008 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: ISRAELI BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10685). View the original.
Forty feet behind the pickets, the thing they were picketing. A birthday celebration for the state of Israel, at noon, in the middle of the square.
R009 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: DISTRIBUTING HARE KRISHNA LITERATURE AT THE ISRAELI BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10682). View the original.
A man working the same crowd with Hare Krishna literature.
R010 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: SATURDAY AFTERNOON ON THE TOWN
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10688). View the original.
Saturday afternoon on the town.
R011 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: A TALK IN THE SUN
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10694). View the original.
A talk in the sun.
The lunch hour
R012 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: SCHOOL CLASS TAKES A LUNCH BREAK
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10692). View the original.
On a weekday at noon the square filled with people who had forty-five minutes and nowhere in particular to be. A school class takes a lunch break, in a row, along the wall.
R013 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: CONSTRUCTION WORKERS ON THEIR LUNCH HOUR
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10701). View the original.
Construction workers on their lunch hour, still wearing the hats.
R014 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: LUNCHING IN A SHADED SPOT
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10702). View the original.
Lunching in a shaded spot.
R015 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: SEATED ON TOP OF THE AIR SHAFT OF THE UNDERGROUND GARAGE--ON A COOL SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10707). View the original.
And this one. The caption is unusually precise about where these people are sitting. On top of the air shaft of the underground garage. Hold on to that. It comes back at the end.
R016 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: YOUNGSTER LOOKS DOWN FROM OVERHEAD WALKWAY
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10711). View the original.
A youngster looking down from the overhead walkway.
R017 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: LIGHT STANCHIONS IN AFTERNOON SUN
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10703). View the original.
Light stanchions, in afternoon sun. There is no person in this photograph at all. It is a picture of municipal light fixtures and their shadows, and the federal government kept it.
R018 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: NOONTIME PERFORMANCE BY THE ELDER HIGH SCHOOL BAND, A CATHOLIC SCHOOL CELEBRATING ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10714). View the original.
A Catholic high school turned fifty that spring and sent its band downtown to play at noon.
June
R019 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: A FLOWER VENDER HAS MADE A SALE
Tom Hubbard · May 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10705). View the original.
In June a flower vendor makes a sale.
R020 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: SALE OF DONATED BOOKS FOR BENEFIT OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10728). View the original.
The public library sold donated books off folding tables, and men in suits stopped on the way to somewhere and read the covers.
R021 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: CHESS GAME. IN BACKGROUND, CAREW TOWER (LEFT), MABLEY AND CAREW BUILDING (RIGHT)
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10738). View the original.
Another caption in the same assignment counts three marble chess tables in the square, and calls them permanent fixtures. Somebody had decided that a downtown needed chess tables.
R022 STROLLING AMONG PIGEONS AT FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10747). View the original.
Strolling among pigeons.
Rain
R023 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: RAIN ON GRANITE PAVING BLOCK
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10721). View the original.
Then it rained, and Hubbard stayed. Rain on granite paving block. That is the whole caption.
R024 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS: PHOTOGRAPHING TYLER DAVIDSON FOUNTAIN ON A RAINING NIGHT
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10722). View the original.
Photographing the Tyler Davidson Fountain on a raining night. Somebody else had come out in the wet to take the same picture.
R025 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IS A PUBLIC SQUARE THAT WORKS FOR THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE IN A MYRIAD OF WAYS
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10736). View the original.
And the fountain lit from below, with people sitting all the way around it in the dark.
R026 LISTENING TO TRANSISTOR IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10758). View the original.
A man listening to a transistor radio.
R027 MUSIC AT FOUNTAIN SQUARE FINDS RESPONSIVE AUDIENCE
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10746). View the original.
Music at Fountain Square finds responsive audience. The caption says it flatly, the way a government caption says things.
July
R028 POP AND POPCORN GO DOWN WELL AT A FOURTH OF JULY CONCERT IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10762). View the original.
July. Pop and popcorn go down well at a Fourth of July concert.
R029 ON TREK ACROSS COUNTRY, YOUNG HIKERS STOP TO TAKE PICTURES IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10766). View the original.
Young hikers on a trek across the country stop to take pictures. They had walked into the middle of a city and found it worth photographing.
R030 THE "CELEBRATIONS GROUP" OF MARILYN WOODS REHEARSES DANCE ON THE ROOF OF THE FIFTH THIRD BANK BUILDING OVERLOOKING FOUNTAIN SQUARE. THEY ARE USING THE SAFETY RAIL AS A DANCE BAR
Tom Hubbard · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10767). View the original.
And on a bank roof above the square, a dance company from New York rehearsing. They are using the safety rail as a dance bar.
R031 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. MARILYN WOODS, DIRECTOR OF THE "CELEBRATIONS GROUP" OF NEW YORK, DANCES IN THE SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10772). View the original.
Their director was Marilyn Woods. In August she brought them down into the square itself.
Dog days
R032 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. FESTIVAL SIGN AND DANCERS
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10809). View the original.
August brought a month-long arts festival. The city spelled its name with an apostrophe, and the government caption spells out the joke for anyone who missed it. It is pronounced dog.
R033 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. BOY WRITES ON A WALL ESPECIALLY PROVIDED FOR GRAFFITI
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10771). View the original.
A boy writes on a wall especially provided for graffiti. Somebody had put up a wall for children to write on, and then a federal photographer recorded it.
R034 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. MEMBER OF THE CELEBRATIONS DANCE GROUP OF NEW YORK LEADS BANNER PARADE WITH CONGO DRUM
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10775). View the original.
A dancer leads the banner parade with a conga drum.
R035 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. THE CELEBRATIONS DANCE GROUP OF NEW YORK AND THE NEW MEDIA THEATER OF CINCINNATI CONVERGE IN THE SQUARE DURING FESTIVAL
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10778). View the original.
The New York company and a Cincinnati company converge in the middle.
R036 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. BOB WOODS OF THE CINCINNATI RECREATION DEPARTMENT PLAYS ON BONGO DRUMS. THE DRUMS ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL COMERS
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10779). View the original.
A man from the Cincinnati Recreation Department plays bongo drums. The caption adds that the drums are available to all comers.
R037 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. MAN ADDS HIS BIT TO A RUTH CORAN SCULPTURE--BASICALLY A PIPE FRAMEWORK WITH A PILE OF JUNK MATERIALS TO BE ADDED BY ANYONE, ANY TIME, ANY WAY
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10787). View the original.
A sculpture by Ruth Coran. A pipe framework with a pile of junk beside it, to be added to by anyone, any time, any way. This man is adding his bit.
R038 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. SCULPTURE MADE OF GAUZE-COVERED WIRE HOOPS, SUSPENDED FROM BALLOONS, SAILS OVER BUILDINGS SURROUNDING THE SQUARE AND IS SOON LOST TO SIGHT
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10799). View the original.
Another one was wire hoops covered in gauze, tied to balloons. It sailed over the buildings around the square and was soon lost to sight.
R039 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. INFLATABLE SCULPTURE BY JONATHAN AHEARN
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10804). View the original.
An inflatable sculpture by Jonathan Ahearn.
R040 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. STEVEN SHARP, A MIME CLOWN, IS A FAVORITE OF THE CHILDREN
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10823). View the original.
Steven Sharp, a mime clown, described in the caption as a favorite of the children.
R041 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. A DANCER FROM THE NEW MEDIA THEATER, A CINCINNATI GROUP, GREETS ROSIE, A STREET FLOWER VENDOR
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10821). View the original.
A dancer greets Rosie, a street flower vendor. The federal caption knows her first name.
R042 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. GIRL PREACHER, AN UNSCHEDULED EVENT
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10843). View the original.
And a girl preacher, the caption says. An unscheduled event.
Night
R043 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. CELEBRATIONS, A NEW YORK GROUP, DANCE BEHIND A SCRIM AS COLORED LIGHTS PLAY OVER SURFACE
Tom Hubbard · July 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10802). View the original.
At night they hung a scrim and put colored lights on it, and danced behind it.
R044 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. CROWDS IN THE SQUARE WATCH AS DANCERS PERFORM UNDER SPOTLIGHTS
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10800). View the original.
The crowds watched from the paving stones under spotlights.
R045 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "SKY BLADES", SCULPTURE BY OLIVER ANDREWS GARY RIEVSCHL HAS BEGUN CREATING HIS "LIGHT ARROW" BY TURNING ON SELECTED ROOM LIGHTS IN CAREW TOWER
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10836). View the original.
Two works at once. The blade is a sculpture by Oliver Andrews called Sky Blades. Behind it, Gary Rievschl is making a light arrow by having selected room lights turned on in Carew Tower.
R046 AUGUST BRINGS THE "D'AUG DAYS" TO FOUNTAIN SQUARE. "D'AUG DAYS" IS A MONTH LONG FESTIVAL OF ARTS PRESENTED TO, FOR, AND SOMETIMES BY, THE PEOPLE. LATE WORKER IN THE DU BOIS TOWER LOOKS OUT AT THE GATHERING CROWD IN THE SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10796). View the original.
And a man working late in the tower opposite, looking down at the crowd gathering below him.
The rest of August
R047 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IS DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA. COW MILKING CONTEST AT THE SQUARE PUBLICIZES THE OPENING OF CARTHAGE FAIR. THE CONTESTANTS ARE LOCAL NEWSPAPER, RADIO AND TV PERSONALITIES
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10812). View the original.
Not all of it was art. A cow milking contest advertised the opening of the Carthage Fair. The contestants were local newspaper, radio and television people.
R048 OLD MAN HOLDING BALLOONS ON WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE DAY AT FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10849). View the original.
An old man holding balloons on Women's Suffrage Day.
R049 {{en|A woman wearing a witch costume, with a sign reading "Fly Me"}}
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10850). View the original.
A woman in a witch costume with a hand-lettered sign. Fly me.
R050 CINCINNATI BOUGHT THE PRIVATELY-OWNED TRANSIT SYSTEM RENAMED IT "METRO" AND PUT NEW PAINT ON THE BUSES. THE NEW SYSTEM IS INTRODUCED AT NOONTIME IN DOWNTOWN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10815). View the original.
And the city introduced its buses. Cincinnati had bought the privately owned transit system, renamed it Metro and put new paint on the fleet, and the first place it showed them was here, at noon.
September
R051 NOON CONCERT BY CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE. A WEEK OF THESE NOON CONCERTS IS AN ANNUAL SUMMER EVENT
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10857). View the original.
In September the symphony came down for a week of noon concerts.
R052 ERIC KUNZEL CONDUCTS THE CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AT A NOON CONCERT IN FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10864). View the original.
Erich Kunzel conducting, at lunchtime, outdoors, for free.
R053 FOUNTAIN SQUARE DURING A NOON CONCERT BY THE CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. WOMAN CAMPAIGNING FOR A CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE FINDS BEAT OF THE MUSIC IRRESISTIBLE
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10862). View the original.
A woman campaigning for a city council candidate finds the beat of the music irresistible.
R054 FOUNTAIN SQUARE DURING A PERFORMANCE BY THE CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (UNDER THE GREEN TARP). FIFTH STREET (BOTTOM) VINE STREET (LEFT), AND UNDERGROUND GARAGE ENTRANCE (UPPER LEFT)
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10859). View the original.
From above, the orchestra is the small green tarp. Fifth Street along the bottom. Vine Street to the left. And in the upper corner, the entrance ramp to the underground garage.
R055 CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA'S ANNUAL CONCERT AT RIVERFRONT STADIUM DRAWS SOME 25,000 PEOPLE. ERIC KUNZEL, RESIDENT CONDUCTOR, IS AT THE PODIUM
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10853). View the original.
The same orchestra played its annual concert at Riverfront Stadium that month. The caption puts the crowd at some twenty-five thousand people.
Four words
That is most of the assignment. Here is the rest of the shot list, in the same run-on sentence, without a paragraph break.
R056 "OVER THE RHINE", AN OLD RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD NORTH OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT, IS BEING REHABILITATED
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10841). View the original.
There it is. Old residential neighborhood. Three words, with no comma after them, run together with a parking lot into a single item on the list. The neighborhood is Over the Rhine, north of the business district.
R057 "OVER THE RHINE", AN OLD RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD NORTH OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT, IS BEING REHABILITATED
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10842). View the original.
Rehabilitated is the word on the government caption. It is not a word that says who was living there first.
R058 APARTMENT BUILDING IN "OVER THE PHINE", ON OLD RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD NORTH OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10855). View the original.
An apartment building in the same neighborhood.
R059 Youngsters in "Over the Rhine" Residential Neighborhood North of the Business District. They Want the Photographer to Take "Just One More" Picture
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10856). View the original.
And these children, hanging out of a car window. The caption records what they wanted. They want the photographer to take just one more picture.
The project knew how to photograph the other thing. Two assignments later on the same page there is Kenneth Paik, in Kansas City.
R077 OVERHEAD WALKWAY ABOVE CONVENTION WAY. STREET BELOW IS USED FOR TRUCK LOADING
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10818). View the original.
Documentation of a small area on the west side of the city called Mulky Square, where lower income residents are being displaced. That was a whole assignment. In Cincinnati it was three words and no comma.
The roof of a garage
R060 DOWNTOWN PARKING LOT
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10844). View the original.
The shot list has more in it. Downtown parking lot.
R061 FOUNTAIN SQUARE'S UNDERGROUND GARAGE
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10866). View the original.
Underground garage. This is it, from the inside. The plaza with the chess tables and the marble sitting walls and the symphony under the green tarp is the roof of this.
R062 LOOKING NORTH ALONG VINE STREET FROM THE OVERHEAD WALKWAY AT FOUNTAIN SQUARE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10817). View the original.
Looking north along Vine Street from the walkway the boy was leaning over in May.
R063 FOUNTAIN SQUARE IN FOREGROUND. BUILDINGS IN ROW ARE DU BOIS TOWER (TALL), POST OFFICE (U-SHAPED), FEDERAL BUILDING, AND PROCTOR AND GAMBLE (WITH PARK). I-71 IN REAR
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10869). View the original.
Downtown from the air. The square in the foreground, Interstate seventy-one at the back.
The hill
R064 MT. ADAMS WITH IMMACULATA CHURCH AT TOP. MT. ADAMS IS A RESIDENTIAL AREA OF LUXURY APARTMENTS AND RESTORED ROW HOUSES
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10867). View the original.
And then, in September, Hubbard went up Mount Adams. A residential hill east of downtown, with a church at the top of it.
R065 SMOG OVER MT. ADAMS, A RESIDENTIAL AREA OF LUXURY APARTMENTS AND RESTORED ROW HOUSES. IMMACULATA CHURCH AT TOP OF HILL
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10868). View the original.
He photographed it twice. The second caption has one more word in it. Smog over Mount Adams.
R066 EMISSION TEST AT THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER OF EPA: THE FORD ENGINE (BLUE) WITH FORD'S MONOLITH-HONEYCOMBED CATALYTIC CONVERTER (BRASS-COLORED) CHEVROLET ENGINE AT UPPER RIGHT
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10870). View the original.
The next two frames are indoors, at the agency's own National Environmental Research Center in Cincinnati. An engine on a stand. Ford, in blue, with a honeycomb catalytic converter.
R067 EMISSION TEST AT THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH CENTER OF EPA: THE CHEVROLET ENGINE (RED) WITH CHEVROLET'S PELLETIZED CATALYTIC CONVERTER (FLAT ALUMINUM, LOWER CENTER). FORD MOTOR AT UPPER LEFT
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10871). View the original.
And the Chevrolet, in red, with a pelletized one. Two designs for the same part, going onto cars the following year.
Everything is connected
R068 FOUNTAIN SQUARE CROWDS CELEBRATE CINCINNATI REDS' VICTORY THAT PUT THEM IN THE PLAY-OFF FOR THE NATIONAL LEAGUE PENNANT
Tom Hubbard · Sept. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10872). View the original.
And then the last frame in the assignment. The highest number Hubbard filed for assignment eighty-one is the square at night, at the end of September, full of people celebrating a baseball game.
R069 LOOKING ALONG THE OHIO RIVER. DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI IN CENTER DISTANCE. ACROSS THE RIVER IS NORTHERN KENTUCKY (RIGHT BANK)
Tom Hubbard · June 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10754). View the original.
The Ohio River, with downtown in the distance. The right bank, the caption says, is northern Kentucky.
R070 RIVERFRONT STADIUM ON THE OHIO RIVER. FT. WASHINGTON WAY (HIGHWAY NETWORK) ON NEAR SIDE. TOWBOAT WITH BARGES IS UNDER THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE DESIGNED AND BUILT BY J. A. ROEBLING BEFORE HE BUILT THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10826). View the original.
The bridge in this one, the caption points out, was designed and built by Roebling before he built the Brooklyn Bridge. Hampshire had told them at the start. Everything is connected to everything else.
R078 D'AUG DAYS (PRONOUNCED DOG) IS A MONTH LONG PRESENTATION OF ALL THE ARTS AT DOWNTOWN CINCINNATI'S IMMENSELY POPULAR PUBLIC PLAZA, FOUNTAIN SQUARE. SUNDAY AFTERNOON CROWD WATCHES PERFORMANCE BY THE CHICAGO STREET THEATER
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10828). View the original.
A hundred and ninety-two frames of a place where nothing was wrong. The square worked. The air did not. And the neighborhood north of it got three words.
R071 FOUNTAIN SQUARE--LATE AFTERNOON
Tom Hubbard · Aug. 1973 · U.S. National Archives, DOCUMERICA (412-DA-10833). View the original.
The paper that would say who chose them sits at College Park, in a series the Archives has never digitized. Anyone is allowed to order it.
Sources
- Series record: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/542493
- NARA Use Restriction Status Authority List: https://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/lcdrg/authority-lists/use-restriction-status
- Every frame used is credited on screen by photographer, month and local identifier, and each links to its own catalogue record at `catalog.archives.gov/id/<naId>`.
- Guidelines: https://web.archive.org/web/20120602102916id_/http://ej.msu.edu/documerica/History/guidelines.pdf
- Assignment list: https://web.archive.org/web/20120602151038id_/http://ej.msu.edu/documerica/History/assign.pdf
- Every fact spoken over a photograph comes from that frame's own NARA caption, and the narration says so wherever it matters ("the caption says", "the caption points out"). Where a fact comes from a *different* frame's caption in the same assignment — the count of three marble chess tables, from 412-DA-10831 — the narration attributes it that way.
- The order of the last frames is the filing order. By local identifier: Mount Adams clear (10867), smog over Mount Adams (10868), downtown aerial (10869), the Ford engine (10870), the Chevrolet engine (10871), and the Reds celebration (10872), which is the highest number in the assignment.
- The fountain's age. The Tyler Davidson Fountain was dedicated in 1871, which makes it 102 years old in 1973. This is the one fact in the film not drawn from a federal document; it is uncontroversial and is the reason the city held a centennial rededication in 1971. Secondary sources: Cincinnati Magazine, "17 Curious Facts They Never Tell You About The Tyler Davidson Fountain"; WVXU, 5 Oct 2021.
- The 1969–71 rebuilding of the square is deliberately not asserted. Secondary accounts disagree on whether the fountain was moved in 1970 or 1971 and on what was demolished, and the National Register nomination for the fountain (NRHP #79001854, listed 11 Oct 1979) has not been digitised — `npgallery.nps.gov` returns "The PDF file for this National Register record has not yet been digitized." The film therefore says only what Hubbard's captions say: that the plaza has an underground garage beneath it, an air shaft through it, and an entrance ramp at its corner (412-DA-10707, 10866, 10859).
- "Erich Kunzel" is spelled *Eric Kunzel* on the NARA captions (412-DA-10864, 10853). The narration uses the conductor's own spelling.
- No accusation is made against anyone, living or dead. The subjects are members of the public in a public square in 1973, photographed by the federal government; none is named in narration except performers and artists whom the government captions name as such, and one street flower vendor the caption identifies only by her first name.
- 412-P: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/558485
- Barbara Lynn Shubinski, *From FSA to EPA: Project Documerica, the Dustbowl Legacy, and the Quest to Photograph 1970s America* (Ph.D. diss., University of Iowa, 2009) — the map to RG 412-M and 412-P by box and date.
- C. Jerry Simmons, "DOCUMERICA: Snapshots of Crisis and Cure in the 1970s," *Prologue* (NARA), Spring 2009.