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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]
1905. "Waterfront -- Norfolk, Virginia." A going-away view of the ferry Superior. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
1904. "East Coast Railway station, New Smyrna (Beach), Florida." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Built in 1883 by the eccentric Boston millionaire Franklin W. Smith as his winter home, Villa Zorayda was inspired by the 12th-century Moorish Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. (Wikipedia)
Circa 1904. "Zorayda Club, King Street, St. Augustine, Florida." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Circa 1904. "The Circle -- Brooklyn, N.Y." Plaza Street West at Berkeley Place, with Grand Army Plaza at right. 8x10 inch glass transparency. View full size.
Buffalo, New York, circa 1900. "Great Northern elevator and shipping." The freighters Andaste of Ishpeming, I.W. Nicholas and B.L. Pennington. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
May 1958. "Actress Mary Ure wearing silver lamé, thigh-high leg covering with attached heels." The record is Norgine Laboratories' 78 rpm pressing of Marin Marais's "Tableau of a Bladder Operation." Color transparency from the Look magazine assignment "For Women Only: Crazy With the Heat." View full size.
May 1942. Parris Island, South Carolina. "Instructors at leisure after a full day at the U.S. Marine Corps glider detachment training camp." From photos by Alfred Palmer and Pat Terry for the Office of War Information. View full size.
San Francisco, 1925. "Rickenbacker D-6 Coach-Brougham at Lafayette Park." Now twirling on the turntable in the Shorpy Showroom of Automotive Anachronisms. 5x7 inch glass negative by Christopher Helin. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1939. "View of train tracks and St. Dominic's Church." Medium format negative, photographer unknown. View full size.
July 1921. New York. "Princess Fatima Sultana of Afghanistan." The "princess," whose claim to royalty was questionable, met with President Harding in Washington after a notorious impostor named Stanley Weyman (among other aliases), pretending to be a "naval liaison," tricked the State Department into arranging the interview. 8x10 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.
The princess, it was learned, takes out her nose jewel when she goes to bed at night, as other women remove their earrings. Unlike American women, she is not afraid of rats, mice, or bats. The reason for this immunity from those customary feminine fears is that in the Mohammed religion, which she professes, not only cats but all animals are sacred. (Washington Post)
An uncredited view of Washington, D.C., circa 1939. Who'll be the first to drop a pin on the map and tell us where this is? In the meantime, let's settle in and wait for Lars Thorwald to get home. 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size.
Detroit circa 1899. "Forest Drive, Belle Isle Park." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
Westchester County, New York, circa 1903. "South Fourth Avenue, Mount Vernon." 5x7 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Circa 1900. "Michigan Central station, Ann Arbor, Michigan." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
December 1955. "Football game in Florida." Kodachrome transparency by Phillip Harrington for the Look magazine assignments "How It Looks From the South," "Florida's Prophets of Boom" and "What Is Florida?" View full size.