At the beginning of the summer, we acquired and digitized a scrapbook documenting a road trip across America in 1924. It’s a fascinating glimpse of cross-country motor vehicle travel in its early days as well as providing photographic peeks into average American towns. I love recreating old photos when the opportunity presents itself (as previously demonstrated by my Paris sojourn), so I was eager to recreate the scrapbook’s California photos when I headed out to the Golden State for a conference and vacation trip. When I learned that two of my colleagues would also be traveling to states featured in the scrapbook, I enlisted their help as well. Here are the photos we took along with the originals from the scrapbook. A lot of the photos were of generic landscapes or portraits, but we had fun finding similar perspectives, even if not always from the exact same place.

(Click the images to enlarge.)

Demian Katz, South Dakota:

A family portrait, 1924 and 2015:

“Some Boy,” 1924 and 2015:

The Badlands, 1924 and 2015:

“Some of the Road in S.D.,” 1924 and 2015:

Laura Bang, California:

Redwoods, 1924 and 2015:

Bridge in the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, 1924 and 2015:

Atascadero Community House, 1924, and Atascadero City Hall, 2015:

Laura Hutelmyer, Arizona:

The Grand Canyon, 1924 and 2015:

Bright Angel Trail (Grand Canyon), 1924 and 2015:

Fortunately none of us drove into in a ditch, like our 1924 predecessors!

Take a look through the scrapbook to view all the adventures of Paul Haines, Warren Bridegam, and George Spang across 1924 America.