Circa 1901. "Interlocking signal plant, Joliet, Ill's." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

... were made for hikin'. "March 1940. Pine Creek Canyon. Clark County, Nevada." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

Denver, Colorado, circa 1908. "Sixteenth Street at California Street." At 11:06. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Worcester, Massachusetts, circa 1908. "St. Paul's Church." Now a cathedral. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

        Happy Valentine's Day from Shorpy (and Happy 11th Birthday to us!)

"Valentine, Miss. Between February 1894 and February 1901." 5x7 glass negative from the C.M. Bell portrait studio in Washington, D.C. View full size.

Pittsburgh circa 1905. "Fourth Avenue at Stock Exchange." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Keene, New Hampshire, circa 1905. "Cheshire House." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

Lansing, Michigan, circa 1909. "Michigan Avenue from the Capitol." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

March 1940. "Pine Creek Canyon, Clark County, Nevada." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration. View full size.

March 1940. "Medicine Bow, Wyoming." Generic medicine, evidently. Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

This time I was almost literally in Arthur Rothstein's footsteps when I took my Kodachrome slide of Virginia City's Piper's Opera House in August 1966, 26 years and some months after he was clicking his shutter. Had my family been there for him as they were for me, my father would have been 38, my mother 31 and my brother 2 going on 3. It would be another six years before they would be blessed by my existence. The photobombing International Scout wasn't the family car; our new Rambler wagon was parked some blocks away. View full size.

March 1940. "Piper's Opera House. Virginia City, Nevada." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Cathedral Avenue." 8x10 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size.

Unknowingly channeling Arthur Rothstein in Virginia City once more, I was a bit closer than he'd been to St. Mary in the Mountains Church when I took this Kodachrome slide in August 1966, and also got my mother, brother and, mostly hidden by him, my father, heading that way. I don't remember us going into the church, but another photo shows we'd parked a couple blocks down in that direction. View full size.

February 1940. "High school students playing pool. Clinton, Indiana." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.