Least Wanted

Just a short post here, but I thought it was worth while. I was trawling through some flickr links this morning and I randomly came across some sets from flickr user ‘Least Wanted‘. There’s a whole jumble of interesting images in there, (most of them scanned in from other material), but what appealed to me the most was the intriguing sets of Police line-ups, mugshots and identity photos.

Most appear to be from North America cities in the period between 1910 to 1960 and the underlying theme seems to be petty crime or even more surprising things such as communism or vagrancy. It highlights the early role of photography in Police work and more specifically the photos give a first-classs portrait of the abject difficulties associated with the attempts of many to start a new life in the boom of new country. There are also some curious fashions in some of the 1950′s/1960s shots. Definitely worth a look.