[Photo Album Documenting the City Ice Company and the South Carolina Ice Manufacturers Association].

Columbia South Carolina: Sargeant Photo Company, late 1920smid 1930s. String tied album with flexible card covers. 11 5/8” x 15½”. 40 leaves with a total of 38 black and white photographs. Photos measure 8” x 10” and nearly all are either adhesive mounted or stapled along one edge, a few are captioned. Album very good with moderate wear, photos generally very good or better.

This is an album of large professional images featuring Columbia, South Carolina's City Ice Company (CIC), as well as the South Carolina Ice Manufacturers Association. It was created during a period where refrigerators were becoming more common, and the use of ice companies was diminishing. Per contemporary news accounts, CIC applied for a charter to do business in December 1926 and in January 1927 issued this statement as to its purpose:

“The City Ice Company . . . was organized to give to the people of Columbia a more efficient ice delivery service. The new ice company will deliver ice of the Palmetto Ice company, the Arctic Ice Company and the Columbia Ice and Fuel Plant . . . a co-operative delivery system is about to be put into effect by the leading department stores of Columbia for the convenience of their customers and it is felt that the same beneficial results can be made in the delivery of ice . . . this system of unified ice delivery is now being used in practically all the large centers of the country . . . the delivery equipment of the new company will be so attractive in appearance that the people will point to it with pride . . . the new company will shortly open an office conveniently located on Main street where an attractive display showing the many uses of ice will be maintained.”

Around one third of the photos relate to the CIC, with three showing the aforementioned window displays and four interior shots of the showroom exhibiting refrigeration products like coolers and ice boxes. Also per that press release, at least four show ice delivery men with their “attractive equipment”: horse drawn refrigerated carts. A couple of horse-drawn parade float shots are great as well. One shows a line of African American employees in uniform alongside a float for CIC which asks “Is Your Refrigerator Sanitary?” Another parade shot from the early 1930s shows CIC's support for The New Deal and the National Recovery Administration. There's also an outstanding image showing workers at the icing stations at Andrews Yard.

At least eleven photos depict South Carolina Ice Manufacturers Association trade show exhibits, including a few captioned in the negative as having occurred at the 1927 South Carolina State Fair in Columbia. These elaborate displays involve waterfalls and icebergs, penguins and polar bears, all touting the benefits and usefulness of ice over newer technology with messages such as “A Block of Ice Never Gets Out of Order.”

An album of stunning images, showing the efforts of the ice industry to remain relevant during a time of unrelenting change. Very good. Item #6043

Price: $1,500.00