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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]
November 1908. "A typical Spinner" at Lancaster Cotton Mills in South Carolina. View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.
The spirits do come back, if you stay for the second show. 1915 poster advertising an appearance by the magician Howard Thurston (1869-1936), the "King of Cards." Strobridge Lithography, Cincinnati & New York. View full size.
November 1908: Gastonia, North Carolina. Lacy, 12 years old, and Savannah, 11. Have worked two years. Father said "The little one is a crackerjack on spinnin', at least so the boss says. She ain't satisfied unless in the mill. The oldest one isn't so good at it. Not as quick." (Note the tense, serious looks on the younger. Older one more like a real girl.) View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.
1913 (?) poster advertising a Minneapolis appearance by Claude Alexander, one of the most famous (and wealthy) mentalists of his time. View full size.
March 1942. "George Carell's seven-year-old son George Jr. likes to watch his father produce essential war equipment in his Passaic, New Jersey, home workshop. Mr. Carell belongs to a subcontract pool organized by the Howe Machinery Company." View full size. 5x7 negative by Howard Liberman.
And who turned out the lights? A 1928 poster advertising the "brilliant psychic star" Newmann the Great. View full size. Standard Show Printers of St. Paul.
Way back when, the scariest day of the year was May 14. We're kicking off the Shorpy Halloween party with some of the spookiest posters you've even seen! This one's from 1935. View full size. Triangle Poster & Printing Co., Chicago.
January 1938. Bait seller in Key West, Florida. View full size. 3¼ x 4¼ nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.
Babe Ruth, Bill Carrigan, Jack Barry and Vean Gregg of the Boston Red Sox in 1916. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
"Dog Funeral." Laying Fido to rest in Washington, D.C., circa 1922. 4x5 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size.
Summer 1938. Passing the time outside the bus station in Marion, Ohio. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
November 1913. Shreveport, Louisiana. "Percy Neville, 11 years old. Messenger boy #6 for Mackay Telegraph Company. He has been messenger for different companies for four years. Goes to the Reservation [red light district] every day." View full size. Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine.
November 1909. "Night scene, Wheaton Glass Works." Blowing bottles in Millville, New Jersey. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.
Rat meets rat catcher in New York circa 1920. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
"Mermaid Club, Philadelphia." Members in bathing suits circa 1920. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.