December 1936. This formidable-looking lady either had something to do with the Resettlement Administration's creation of Greenhills, Ohio, one of the first planned communities in the United States, or she was tragically misfiled at the Library of Congress. Either way, her caption has no name. View full size. Medium format negative by Brice Martin. [Update: The mystery lady is Dorothy M. Beck, a regional director of the Resettlement Administration.]

March 1937. Stalled in the Southern California desert. "No money, ten children. From Chickasaw, Oklahoma." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.

Imperial Valley, California, March 1937. "One of a Mexican field gang of migratory laborers thinning and weeding cantaloupe plants. The young plants are capped with waxed paper spread over a wire wicket to protect against cold and accelerate growth. The laborers' wages are 30 cents an hour." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the FSA.

November 1941. "Slag runoff from one of the open-hearth furnaces at Republic Steel in Youngstown, Ohio. Slag is drawn off the furnace just before the molten steel is poured into ladles for ingotting." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

March 1937. "Unemployed family from the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, camped on a river bottom near Holtville, California." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.

Summer 1942. "Good citizenship and plain common sense. This man is performing a duty every car owner owes to himself and to our fighting men. In having his car adjusted to prevent excessive tire wear -- and in observing the simple rules that make tires last longer -- he is making a valuable contribution to our war effort. The man who wastes rubber is a poor citizen and blind even to his own personal interests." View full size. From photos by Martha McMillan Roberts, Howard Hollem, Albert Freeman and Howard Liberman for the Office of War Information.

New York, summer 1938. "Street vendor of shaved ices." View full size. Medium format nitrate negative by Jack Allison for the Farm Security Administration.

November 1911. Chicopee, Mass. Stanislaus Matthew, 30 Cabot Street (lefthand boy). Warren Butman, Nonotuck Street. Has worked in spinning room at Dwight Manufacturing since Monday. View full size. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.

October 1935. Our third shot of Red House, West Virginia, youngsters on the way to school by truck. 35mm negative by Ben Shahn for the FSA. View full size.

November 1911. Chicopee, Massachusetts. Tony Soccha [Scocca?], 65 Exchange Place. Bobbin boy in #7 Room at Dwight Manufacturing; been working there for a year. View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.

1942. Chrysler Corporation plant at Highland Park, Detroit. "Applying automobile production methods to machining of 40 mm. anti-aircraft gun barrels in a former automobile plant. Five cutting instruments work at the same time. Under the old single-operation methods of gunmaking, only one of these could work at one time. Automobile workers are proud of the improvement." Medium format safety negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

1942. Chrysler Corporation plant at Highland Park, Detroit. "Conversion. Here, in a former automobile plant, 40 mm. anti-aircraft gun barrels are machined and made ready for front-line duty. Since they must shoot fast-moving objects at great distances, they must be finished to the very finest of tolerances." Medium format negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

"Amplifiers at Bolling Field, 1921." Two giant horns with ear tubes, evidently designed to listen for approaching aircraft. View full size. National Photo Co.

Manhattan, looking northeast from atop the Singer Building in 1908. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

April 1943. South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad at Chicago. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano.