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Vintage photos of:
Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
March 1940. "Side street. Virginia City, Nevada." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
When I took this Kodachrome slide of Virginia City's Fourth Ward School building in August 1965 I had never heard of Arthur Rothstein, much less realized I was following in his footsteps a quarter century after he took this photograph. Other things I didn't know then was that a neighbor in Larkspur had once lived, worked and met Ulysses S. Grant here, or that exactly one year later I'd be back with my family and our new Rambler. View full size.
The last remaining Second Empire schoolhouse in the United States, the Fourth Ward School is now a museum.
March 1940. "Abandoned school. Virginia City, Nevada." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1940. "Main street in Virginia City, Nevada." Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Spring 1942. Provincetown, Massachusetts. "Family of a Portuguese dory fisherman." Photo by John Collier for the Office of War Information. View full size.
August 1940. Coaldale, Pennsylvania. "Baseball diamond for children with slagpile in background." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.
February 1943. Daytona Beach, Florida. "Bethune-Cookman College. Home economics students learning how to make good bread." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Gordon Parks for the Office of War Information. View full size.
January 1943. "Production. Zinc. Cars for transporting zinc and lead ore. From the Eagle-Picher Mining & Smelting Co. plant near Cardin, Oklahoma, come great quantities of zinc and lead to serve many important purposes in the war effort." Photo by Fritz Henle for the Office of War Information. View full size.
June 1956. "Aspects of life in Southern California, including cars at drive-in restaurant, drive-in laundromat, drive-up bank, shopping center, visiting Disneyland." Kodachrome by Maurice Terrell for the Look magazine assignment "Los Angeles: The Art of Living Bumper-to-Bumper." View full size.
March 1941. "Backed up storm sewer in Negro slum district. Norfolk, Virginia." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
San Francisco circa 1924. "Star Car Sedan at Star Motor Co., Van Ness Avenue." Demonstrating one way to get your Star on the Walk of Fame. 5x7 inch glass negative by that automotive impresario Christopher Helin. View full size.
Volusia County, Florida, circa 1897. "Picnic landing on the Tomoka." With much photographic equipment strewn about, and a proffering of pie. 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Co. View full size.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1908. "The heart of Pittsburgh." Panorama made from four 8x10 inch glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
1896. "Lightship Scotland." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
January 1943. Daytona Beach, Florida. "Bethune-Cookman College. Football practice." Photo by Gordon Parks, Office of War Information. View full size.