Washington circa 1863. "Mess hall at Harewood Hospital, heated by elaborate stoves." 3x4 glass-plate stereograph, photographer unknown. View full size.

February 1864. Brandy Station, Virginia. Secret Service officers at Army of the Potomac winter headquarters: Col. George H. Sharpe, John G. Babcock, unidentified and Lt. Col. John McEntee. 8x10 glass-plate negative from a collection compiled by Hirst Milhollen and Donald Mugridge. View full size. Alternate caption information, which records the date of creation/publication as August 1863: "Bealeton, Va. Members of the Bureau of Military Information."

Summer 1938. "Looking over Buckeye Lake," the fleshpot of central Ohio if photographer Ben Shahn is to be believed. Full size | The sordid details.

Summer 1938. "Scene at Buckeye Lake Amusement Park, near Columbus, Ohio." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn for the FSA.

1939. Ladies who lunch in Washington, D.C., with the toy department as a backdrop. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by David Myers.

September 15, 1913. Frederick Schnell and father-in-law Ardolph Kline, a president of the New York City board of aldermen who served as NYC mayor for three months following the unexpected death, five days before this picture was taken, of William Jay Gaynor. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection.

April 21, 1910. Boston Nationals (Braves) manager Fred Lake does it the hard way. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

1939. "Texas whirlwind." View full size. Nitrate negative by David Myers.

October 9, 1914. "Watching the first game of the 1914 World Series from rooftops overlooking Shibe Park in Philadelphia." View full size | A look back at the lookers the previous year. George Grantham Bain Collection.

Summer 1938. Hamburger stand at the Buckeye Lake amusement park near Columbus. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn, who goes on to describe the place: "Buckeye Lake is the weekend and summer months resort for all of central Ohio. Its patrons are clerks, Columbus politicians, laborers, businessmen, droves of high school and college students. The rich occupy one side of the lake, the rest rent cottages on the other side. It has an evil reputation and an evil smell. It has furnished Columbus and the neighboring small towns and cities with dancing, cottaging, swimming, etc. for several generations. This is the most unsavory place the photographer ran across in Ohio." But how are the hot dogs?

Summer 1938. Newark, Ohio. "Boy in front of liquor store." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn for the Farm Security Administration.

6 p.m., January 31, 1912. "Making hair-brushes. Hausner family, 310 East 71st Street, New York. Frank is 6 years old and John is 12. The mother had a sore throat and wore a great rag wrapped around it, but she took it off for the photo. They said they all (including the 6 yr old) worked until 10 p.m. when busy. Their neighbor corroborated this. She said, 'It's a whole lot better for the boys than doin' nothin'.' The mother said the night work hurts their eyes and John said so too. He was not very enthusiastic about the beauties of work. All together, they make about $2 a week. Father is a motorman." Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Arthur Fields, singer and composer ("Abba Dabba Honeymoon"), and family washing their Stutz in 1919. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection.

The vaudevillian, singer and composer Arthur Fields (Abe Finkelstein) circa 1920. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

October 1940. Pie Town schoolchildren in a community musical program. 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee. View full size. Another view is here.