WINSTON HOME - An original press photograph of Winston S. Churchill at Southampton on 7 April 1949 following his return aboard the Queen Mary from America where he addressed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

London: The Associated Press Ltd., 8 April 1949. Photograph. This original press photograph captures then-Leader of the Opposition Winston S. Churchill on 7 April 1949 upon his return to England from his trip to America, where he addressed the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The gelatin silver print on matte photo paper measures 10 x 8 inches (25.4 x 20.3 cm). Condition is very good. The paper is clean and the image clear with only some light wear to the edges. This photograph features hand-applied retouching to Churchills face and clothes and painted crop markings. The verso features the copyright stamp of The Associated Press Ltd. beneath a typed caption titled WINSTON HOME and reading, MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL, HIS WIFE AND FAMILY PARTY ARRIVED AT SOUTHAMPTON ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY TODAY APRIL 7 AFTER THEIR VISIT TO AMERICA, WHERE MR. CHURCHILL ADDRESSED THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. THE QUEEN MARY WAS 24 HOURS LATE, HAVING BEEN DELAYED BY BAD WEATHER OFF CHERBOURG. PHOTO SHOWS: MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL DISEMBARKS FROM THE ROMSEY, TENDER IN WHICH HE WAS TAKEN FROM THE QUEEN MARY TO THE QUAYSIDE. The caption provides identification numbers for the photo and attributed it to ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO FROM LONDON. There are additional hand-written notations on the verso.

In the spring of 1949, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology held an international convocation to explore some of the principal pressing problems that had been raised by science for the twentieth century. Forty leading scientists and scholars met to discuss these implications of scientific progress. Among the speeches delivered was Churchill's, titled "The Twentieth Century - Its Promise and Its Realization," which he delivered at the start of the convocation.

Churchill's speech was a tour de force survey of the period 1900-1945 that is, at once, incisive and lyrical, humbling and inspiring: "In 1900 a sense of moving hopefully forward to brighter, broader, easier days predominated. Little did we guess that what has been called the Century of the Common Man would witness as its outstanding feature more common men killing each other with greater facilities than any other five centuries put together in the history of the world... but it is not in the power of material forces in any period... to alter the main elements in human nature or restrict the infinite variety of forms in which the soul and genius of the human race can and will express itself."

During the first half of the twentieth century, photojournalism grew as a practice, fundamentally changing the way the public interacted with current events. Newspapers assembled expansive archives, with physical copies of all photographs published or deemed useful for potential future use, their versos typically marked with ink stamps and notes providing provenance and captions. Photo departments would often take brush, paint, pencil, and marker to the surface of photographs themselves to edit them before publication. Today these photographs exist as repositories of historical memory, technological artifacts, and often striking pieces of vernacular art.