Bernard Milton Cone (1874-1956) was born in Baltimore as one of the youngest of Herman and Helen Cone's thirteen children. His elder brothers, Moses (1857-1908) and Ceasar (1859-1917), built Proximity Cotton Mills in Greensboro in 1895, and later launched Revolution Mill, White Oak Mill, and Proximity Print Works, creating one of the largest textile mill companies in the South. Educated at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia Law School, Bernard Cone worked as a lawyer in New York for seven years before settling in Greensboro in 1904. Over the next 45 years, he held various positions in the family's textile empire, including that of president of Proximity Manufacturing Company from 1917 to 1938. Cone was a skilled amateur photographer, and his photos provide a rich picture of life in Greensboro in the 1900s and 1910s. Images show: members of the Cone family and their mansions on Summit Avenue, the textile mills and their employees, the mill villages and their residents, and mill-sponsored schools and recreational activities. Cone also captured street scenes in downtown Greensboro and the city's 1908 centennial celebrations. In addition, the albums include several creative self-portraits.
Bernard Cone poses with a drink in his hand and cigar in his mouth. His Victrola and records are set on the table beside him. An unidentified man can be seen in the reflection of the mirror.
A blimp steered by a man in the metal framework below the balloon, flies above the Greensboro fairgrounds during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. A sign on the rudder reads, "Deep Sea Divers".
A blimp steered by a man in the metal framework below the balloon, flies above the Greensboro fairgrounds during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. A sign on the rudder reads, "Deep Sea Divers".
A blimp steered by a man in the metal framework below the balloon, flies above the Greensboro fairgrounds during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. A sign on the rudder reads, "Deep Sea Divers".
A blimp steered by a man in the metal framework below the balloon, flies above the Greensboro fairgrounds during the Greensboro Centennial celebrations. A sign on the rudder reads, "Deep Sea Divers".
Spectators at the Central Carolina Fair gather around a landed blimp outside of the exhibition hall. This might be a part of the Greensboro Centennial celebrations.
Spectators at the Central Carolina Fair gather around a landed blimp outside of the exhibition hall. This might be a part of the Greensboro Centennial celebrations.