100 years ago saw the first trans-Atlantic flight, and it wasn’t Lindbergh’s. A giant Navy seaplane flew from Queens to the Azores in 1919, eight years before the Spirit of St. Louis. It took three weeks. It wasn’t nonstop. — N.Y. Times

May 1919. "The NC-4 Curtiss flying boat, designed by Glenn Curtiss, at Rockaway Beach, Long Island, New York. The NC-4 was the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as part of the U.S. Navy transatlantic flight attempt." 5x7 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.

Circa 1908. "Monroe Avenue, Detroit." One of the nascent Motor City's seedier (and moldier) districts. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

My brother, age 9, working with a set of color pencils at our grandfather's house in Calpella, California. Four days later, he was in the hospital in nearby Ukiah having an emergency appendectomy, while 95 miles to the south in Marin County I was in another hospital being born. As our hometown paper headlined the item, "Plenty Excitement." My sister took the photo with a box Brownie. Scanned from the original "116" 2½ x 4¼ negative. View full size.

February 14, 1913. "Noon -- Steamer Seeandbee." Lunch break for men working on the sidewheeler Seeandbee at the Detroit Ship Building yard in Wyandotte. View full size.

Cuba circa 1904. "The Prado -- Havana." The Cuban capital's celebrated promenade. 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

Circa 1905. "Broughton Street -- Savannah, Georgia." Starring the National Bank of Savannah, with the Bee Hive in a supporting role. 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size.

Circa 1908. "Main Street -- Buffalo, N.Y." Landmarks on view include Hengerer's Department Store and the dome of the Buffalo Savings Bank. 5x7 inch glass negative. View full size.

Atlantic City, New Jersey, circa 1905. "Beach bathers and Steel Pier." And a girl we'll call Sandy. 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

March 1940. Brattleboro, Vermont. "Corner of Main Street, center of town after blizzard." Acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

November 1939. "Hog killing on Milton Puryear place. He is a Negro owner of five acres of land. Rural Route No. 1, Box 59, Dennison, Halifax County, Virginia. This is six miles south (on Highway No. 501) of South Boston. He used to grow tobacco and cotton but now just a subsistence living. These hogs belong to a neighbor landowner. He burns old shoes and pieces of leather near the heads of the slaughtered hogs while they are hanging to keep the flies away." Photo by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

May 1939. "Alabama. The poorer the land, the more frequently one sees religious signs along highways." Photo by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

March 1940. "Highway after blizzard. Brattleboro, Vermont." Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

August 1956. Southampton, New York. "Teenage girl in record store." Medium format negative from photos for the Look magazine assignment "The Young Have New Ideas: They're the Disc Diggers." Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Collection. View full size.

November 12, 1942. "Jap radio tuned in on U.S. -- Marine communicators found this radio set which was left behind by the Japs on Guadalcanal, and use it to listen in on U.S. broadcasts in their leisure time. The Marines are (left to right) Cpl. James Shadduck, Pvt. Alex N. Incinelli, Pvt. Robert Galer, Cpl. Sidney B. Land and Pvt. Arthur D. Roda, and part of their job is to see that the messages get through." New York World-Telegram & Sun newsphoto. View full size.

September 1939. "Ducktown, Tennessee. Train bringing copper ore out of mine. Fumes from smelting copper for sulfuric acid have destroyed all vegetation and eroded the land." Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.