salvaging artifacts from an early 20th century standard oil (of indiana) factory building

the photographic essay below offers a brief glimpse at a day of savaging artifacts during a single afternoon at a chicago area standard oil (of indiana) brick factory building constructed as a distribution and handling center for several decades. the building is set to be demolished in the coming weeks.

the images capture a multitude of objects that peaked my interest to the point where i felt they were worth saving. i always find it important to photograph these artifacts "in situ" in order to provide the potential buyer a much-needed (in my opinion) context in terms of how they were used in a given area of the building that will be no longer.

a great deal of time was spent in an electrical room where myself and a co-worker removed several plaques and components from antiquated devices that were slated for the scrapyard. in addition, we worked together removing several highly desirable steel windows and or single panes of "chicken wire" glass used in nearly every window opening of the industrial building.

other odds and ends, including signage, early office gadgets, unique light fixtures and foundry patterns were loaded into the company truck and brought back to the store to where i anxiously awaited photographing and listing the newly acquired finds on the urban remains website.

cc