From A Richmond Streetcar Life Through the Lens of Harris Stilson
In From A Richmond Streetcar, Kitty Snow has compiled a wonderful resource by sharing the photographs of her great-grandfather, Richmond streetcar motorman and photographer Harris H. Stilson (1868-1934). Stilson's photographs are unique and they offer Richmonders of today a rare view of how the city looked at the beginning of the 20th century. The working class life of Richmond is especially well documented in Stilson's images which is something that has long been missing in previous published works on the city's history. By illustrating the many connections between Richmonders of the 1910s and 1920s, the book shows us, in Snow's words, that Richmond really was a small town of not six degrees of separation but perhaps two. --Raymond F. Bonis, co-author; "Greetings from Richmond" & archivist, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library of VCUDecades ago, Harris Stilson focused his camera on what he witnessed during his streetcar runs. From a Richmond Streetcar is the next best thing to riding along and peering over his shoulder as he photographs intriguing and rarely seen people and places. This book is a revelation. --Edwin Slipek, Senior Consulting Editor, Style WeeklyIn this digital age when our pervasive (and often invasive) technology puts a camera in everyone's hand, it's endlessly intriguing to savor the results of one man's fascination with people, back when taking and developing pictures was a lot of work. Richmond streetcar man Harry Stilson spent countless hours using his clunky film camera to capture our city and its everyday citizens nearly a century ago, giving us a priceless look at slices of life the the Dementis might have missed. This is a revealing and affectionate record of where we've been, as told through Harry's prolific images and narrated lovingly by his great-granddaughter Kitty Snow, who's fallen into a bottomless pit of memories in her quest to put names with these unforgettable faces. From a Richmond Streetcar proves to be an important missing piece of the big quilt we all call home. --Tim Timberlake, Richmond radio personality and voice-over talent.