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Retrographer harnesses the knowledge of the community to create a collaborative map of Pittsburgh's historic photographs.

How it works?

All of the photographs on the site come from the City Photographer collection hosted and curated by the University of Pittsburgh's Archives Services Center

Retrographer uses Google Maps to make it easy for anybody to geotag these images. This geotag data is sent back to the Archives Services Center to become a permanent part of the archive.

About The Project

Retrographer was started in the Fall of 2010 as a project for the Senior studio Pieces taught by Dylan Vitone at Carnegie Mellon University. The project has evolved and lives on after the class has ended. So far over 3,900 photos have been tagged by people all over Pittsburgh

Retrographer continues to evolve. Check back soon on your smartphone, a mobile app is on the way.

If you have any feedback about Retrographer please email me at dpieri@gmail.com -Dane Pieri

Just Pittsburgh?

It doesn't have to be. If you would like to bring Retrographer to your city, and are able to work with an archive or museum to get access to a collection like Pittsburgh's City Photographer Collection, shoot me an email!

Featured Photos

  • Kroger Warehouse - 1938

    Kroger Warehouse
  • Jerome's Remedies - 1931

    Jerome's Remedies
  • Another Walgreens - 1937

    Another Walgreens
  • Car Parked in Alley - 60

    Car Parked in Alley

Contributions this week
Randy
4293
Alexander
570
Jon
x4
276
Dott
x20
x7
0
Patrick
x28
x3
0

Recent Activity
  • Small 3011885cp

    "I want the streetview to look more to the right but when I try to fix it it doesn't change."

    Randy said 01/20/24 14:50:08 UTC
  • Small 3011885cp

    "I want the streetview to look more to the right but when I try to fix it it doesn't change."

    Randy said 01/20/24 14:50:06 UTC
  • Small 3011885cp
    Randy tagged 01/20/24 14:49:05 UTC
  • Small 20100518 cp 0002

    "I'm having trouble pointing the view a bit more to the right"

    Randy said 01/20/24 13:15:24 UTC
  • Small 20100518 cp 0002
    Randy tagged 01/20/24 13:14:20 UTC
  • Small 111858 10cp
    Randy tagged 01/20/24 12:54:39 UTC
  • Small 111858 10cp

    "This photo is taken from the vicinity of the Isaly's Dairy building on Blvd of the Allies, looking down on 376, with (right to left) Mackey St, Hodge St, and (barely) Bates St visible in the foreground"

    Randy said 01/20/24 12:44:17 UTC
  • Small 20100810 hpicasc 0170
    Alexander tagged 01/19/24 17:06:54 UTC
  • Small 20100809 hpicasc 0105
    Jon tagged 01/16/24 15:49:50 UTC
  • Small 3732242c

    "The Endness Street steps are visible if you look directly above the man standing near Saw Mill Run. These were wood then, but were replaced by concrete steps in the late '40s. They are (mostly) still there in 2023."

    William said 11/08/23 19:54:06 UTC
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