Recently, the excellent blog Public Domain Review shared just a small selection of colorised images depicting Japanese soldiers and camp life during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. The colorized stereographs provide a fascinating glimpse into a war that in many ways was a precursor to the events of the 20th century, including trench warfare that resulted in massive numbers of casualties thanks to the incorporation of advanced technologies on the battlefield.
The stereographs were captured by American photographer T.W. Ingersoll, who in 1904 traveled to Port Arthur (now Lyushunkou, a district of Dalian in northeastern China), the scene of a long and bloody battle during the Russo-Japanese war. Ingersoll, who is mostly remembered today for his stereographic scenes of the United States at the turn of the last century, managed to document daily life behind Japanese lines in a series of about one hundred images.
The stereographs, while appearing to be mostly staged, document the challenging conditions faced by soldiers forced to deal with trench warfare, including finding and protecting sources of clean water, getting enough to eat or being cared for after being injured.
Ingersoll's images have now entered the public domain, with no known copyright, and are hosted online by various institutions, including Boston Public Library, Monash University and the Skillman Library at Lafayette College. The Lafayette collection is particularly interesting because images are accompanied by explanatory captions that appear to have been written by Ingersoll himself./DQmWt2wkkjea3KrftV7MjdfM6mJwmnSWripKBHoRGDjzG98/image.png)