WWI 80th Division Grouping

[MD Helmets]

Greetings, friends. Been a while since I have posted anything new. Snagged this grouping on eBay a few weeks back. 80th Division, Blue Ridge Mountain Division. It supposedly came from somewhere in Front Royal, Virginia (in the Blue Ridge Mountains, imagine that!) The seller thought it might belong to a Private Patton from Front Royal, but this has not been confirmed. There is no name on the back of the only photo in the group, I have not found any names in any part of the uniform, and the last letter in the initials on the canteen are different. I have not attempted any research yet. I live on the edge of the eastern part of the Blue Ridge, as it runs through Maryland, so this was an exciting grouping to add to the collection.

[ruddersrangers44]

N.I.C.E Grouping and in well preserved condition too,congrats .........

[RH1941]

Very nice

[Nathan362]

That group was very well kept over the years. I can almost see that guy wearing it, and using that razor to shave. Congrats on a good ebay grab.

[Jerry B]

An excellent grouping, so complete and in great condition. I hope you can find out who it belonged to, if possible.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

A fantastic group. Thank god they were kept together!

[StefanM]

Congratulations on acquiring this very fine original group!

Looking at the accompanying photograph it struck me that in recent years because photography has moved from physical prints to almost entirely digital images that are stored on electronic devices and media and never as hard copies they will not turn up with groupings of future militaria from today's conflicts. It begs the question, how much pictorial history will be lost to future generations because the images exist only in digital form on mobiles phones, laptops, tablets etc? Are military museums in a position to accept digital downloads from combatants' or witnesses' digital devices? How are digital documents and images to be "handed down" from digital storage devices or cloud based data storage even within families when passwords are lost or unrecorded?

In a hundred years time will future collectors even see "private" photos such as the one in the OP? I am an avid collector of original print photographs and I wonder if my "hobby" will exist for a future collector of 21st century conflict photos?

Apologies for taking the thread on a slight tangent.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

I'm quite sure that many former servicemen print their pictures off and keep them in albums. All my own digital documents and important photographs are printed off. Both my books are digitally stored - as well as paper copied. I doubt very much if I am the only one to do this. Anyone who just stores photographs on disc or other digital formats is very short-sighted and asking for trouble if something goes wrong.

[StefanM]

I'm quite sure that many former servicemen print their pictures off and keep them in albums. All my own digital documents and important photographs are printed off. Both my books are digitally stored - as well as paper copied. I doubt very much if I am the only one to do this. Anyone who just stores photographs on disc or other digital formats is very short-sighted and asking for trouble if something goes wrong.

I wonder if this might be down to generational attitudes and a transitional period between non-digital and "digital lives" as I know many a lot younger than myself who never print anything out and see shared photostream albums, facebook and youtube etc as we older generations see "printing out".

[Jerry B]

In my work, as an archaeologist and in my hobby of walking in the countryside I shoot 1000's of photos and most of them never get printed, some get shared here or on other forums or on Fb, but most exist only on my computer, back up drives and on clouds. This is the way it is and I think most military photos's especially the candid ad hoc personal pics will not be there for future researchers and collectors in a hard copy format, it all depends on what happens in the future as to how many pics will be there to be seen, especially if there is a shift in how data is stored. I think in many if not most cases these images will just be lost.

An interesting question.