Another piece of history ruined for profit

[Bill T]

I noticed a beautiful Normandy/Omaha Beach related US photo album on Ebay a few weeks back and ended up missing the auctions end. Well, tonight I was looking around again as usual, and found the same photos being sold as singles from another seller. At first I figured they were just copies, but I took a close look at the photo paper edging, and found that they are indeed IMO to be the same photos from the album.

So in short, this guy bought a wonderful piece of COMPLETE history (if they are good period photos) and proceeded to rip out the photos and sell them individually for profit. Splitting them up forever, losing the captions, personal history, and historical significance of the album as a whole. There were some nice rare photos in there of Omaha Beach landings/etc.

Sorry if this doesn't bother some people, but it's something that really makes my blood boil when I see.......so please, if anyone has a complete album....don't go splitting it up to make a few bucks!! They aren't making anymore of this stuff.

Link to current auction:
Original Snapshot Photo DUKW Amphibious Duck Landing on Omaha Beach D Day 1944 | eBay

Link to a once complete album:
WWII Photo Album with 104 Original Photos | eBay


Some of the photos in case the links go bad later:

[Bill T]

some Pics of the once complete album:
(if you look closely, you can see that the photo paper cuts are the same compared to the ones above)

Could these photos just be mass produced images and were all printed on the same paper???? Kind of a coincidence for them to come up around the same timeframe tho if that were true...

[Wolfe1165]

You're not the only one that feels this way. I've seen a couple albums split up locally for a few extra dollars, ruining the entire journey contained within. I know the answer is greed, but it still baffles me as to why someone would rip apart something on only the chance of more profit - be it photos or any other piece. Good catch, though.

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

That really is a pathetic ,idiotic,small minded a*** of an individual! What a terrible thing to do to such an important historical record.When will these idiots get it into there heads that history can never be replicated once destroyed. Leon.

[Dean]

Bill, you know how I feel about breaking up full albums! Not good. Good thing you got some of the album, and some great shots, btw! I love the landing craft and beach shots! Thanks for sharing and trying to preserve history by buying as many as possible from this album. You are truly a protector of history!
I have just spent nearly $500 on something similar, of which I'll share soon.
Dean.

[Walkwolf]

Money hungry ******* ! That is/was such a beautiful collection
of pics. I've never seen a better Allied photo album.

Indeed, ruined - It's too much of a coincidence that all
the pics are exactly alike - because I too believe
they are they are one and the same.........

[Wagriff]

A man's Personal History of the War and the Normandy Landing....split up and scattered to the 4 winds just to make a couple of more dollars....talk about revolting greed....

[Bill T]

Glad to see others feel the same about this.
Well, got a response from the Seller. I wont bother posting my initial message. But to my surprise, the people who did this are supposedly a MUSEUM!! Even worse IMO. They should know better. (another reason why I would never donate anything to one)
His excuse was basically that the album was in tatty condition, so it served no historical purpose. I strongly disagree, and although some of his points may sound acceptable to you in the upcoming message, please do not go this route when trying to sell a complete album. Research options are still available when it is together, but when it is split up...we lose that chance forever, no matter the historical significance.

Please feel free to read the message:

Hello: I think we got the album in May or thereabouts. It had some names written in it, but no ranks, unit identifications, or descriptions of photos. Since it was falling apart we used some photos for our museum and are selling off the balance. Another eBayer contacted me with criticism of this practice. For whatever it is worth I will repeat the points I made to her. (1) The album had no cover and pages were lose. So it was not in tact when we got it. (2) The photos were not identified as Omaha Beach or Normandy so most people looking at it would not know exactly what it was. (3) Our museum wanted several photos out of the album to show to the general public. Most of these albums never see the light of day or benefit the public, but just sit on the shelf of some collector. (4) We have many very nice photo albums that are in tact and well captioned that we keep in that condition. (5) All the funds from selling these photos will go to the World War History & Art Museum. (6) The museum does not make a profit. It is classified as for profit with the IRS, but expenses far outstrip income and we are losing serious money to bring our exhibits to the public. (7) Selling these photos gets them into the hands of people who will appreciate them, some of whom are doing research or writing books, again that will benefit future generations. Thanks. JRP

[slados28]

Yep, a real shame indeed.... "the cover was missing and pages were loose"... well, SO WHAT?? That's certainly nothing that can't be fixed... "No Id's.." A little research goes a long way, this just reeks of lazy and a need for money. That said, I do understand this need for money running these kinds of exhibitions and I also realize that they get in a lot more artifacts than they really need or are even able to display... this would not be right way to go about it though, if they didn't need it they should have left it alone and never picked it up on ebay in the first place. That OR they should hav displayed it in full (how much space does a photo album really take up... not much)..

On another note; I actually saw some of these shots before a few days ago as well and actually intended to bid on that shot of the Vet posing with his war trophy flag, would have made for a great display alongside a vet bringback flag or something--- but yeah, I forgot all about it lounging out in the sun on my porch just now...

[Wolfe1165]

I agree, just laziness on the museum's part. Just posting one of those photos on this forum probably would've netted the soldier's entire history in a matter of days with the (real)researchers present here . I got a twinge of anger at the "some collector" remark. By looking at their facebook page, they should have kept all the photos just to fill in some of the blank space... the hallways are pretty barren. Lot of toys, though. https://www.facebook.com/pages/World...92605614134149

Good job on messaging them!

John