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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

  • Butler Street - 1917

    Butler Street
  • River Traffic - 1933

    River Traffic
  • Men Under the Bridge - 1905

    Men Under the Bridge
  • Grocery Shopping - 1926

    Grocery Shopping

Contributions this week
Dott
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Patrick
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Gary
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Jon
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Daniel
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Recent Activity
  • 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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    "Southside"

    Paulette said 11/01/23 17:59:45 UTC
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    "Just went down these steps today. (They're closed but I was able to make it all the way thanks to a board someone put in.) They are concrete now and are in rough condition. The "now" photo is what you see across Kilbourne St. when you get to the bottom."

    William said 08/13/23 22:24:29 UTC
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    "These are the Diana Street steps."

    William said 07/25/23 12:27:20 UTC
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    "These steps are called St. Michael Street, presumably named after St. Michael's Church at the bottom."

    William said 07/10/23 13:43:02 UTC
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    "Up Front"

    Dave said 02/05/23 15:49:47 UTC
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    Jon tagged 11/28/22 19:32:51 UTC
  • Small 20100420 cp 0072

    "omg it does say that.

    Please ignore me. "

    Jason said 11/25/22 19:00:38 UTC
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    "I believe this photo should say "looking North." From the vantage of this photo, if we were facing West, there would be no bridge in the background. "

    Jason said 11/25/22 18:59:55 UTC
  • Small 20100420 cp 0072
    Jason tagged 11/25/22 18:58:37 UTC
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