Did you know that cats like to be inside things? Oh, OK. But nobody at our place expected this. Seen here, the top of the windmill has been stored away for either safe-keeping or the approaching winter; a wind-driven wheel animated a farmer chopping wood. I forget how, why or possibly from whom we got it, but almost immediately upon installation Kitty crawled into it and forever after it led her top ten list of favorite places in our Larkspur, California yard. I shot this in fall 1973 on glorious Kodachrome. Sharp-eyed folk will note it's partly double-exposed. View full size.

September 1940. "Railroad yards. Durango, Colorado." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

My grandparents Ralph E. and Mildred M. Archer, center and right, in the camera shop they owned and operated from 1929 to 1961 in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Originally at 104 Exchange Place and then later just around the corner at 113 West Central Avenue. Scan from a 35mm Kodachrome slide. View full size.

September 1940. "Railway station at Ophir, Colorado, a small gold mining town. A narrow-gauge railway runs into the town with supplies and takes out the ore." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

September 1940. "House dating from the early boom days of Silverton, Colorado." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee. View full size.

Titusville, Pennsylvania, 1946. West Central Avenue as seen from the Archer Camera Shop, showing a newsstand, bus stop and the Orpheum Theatre. The movie playing is "Throw a Saddle on a Star," which is how I was able to date this Kodachrome slide taken by my grandfather from his camera shop that he and my grandmother owned and operated from 1929 to 1961. View full size.

December 1940. "Workers eating lunch on curb across the street from the Consolidated Aircraft factory. San Diego, California." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

September 1940. "Abandoned gold mill east of Silverton, San Juan County, Colorado." Medium format negative by Russell Lee. View full size.

July 1940. "Filling station is only building of modern design in the Spanish-American village of Penasco, New Mexico." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

September 1940. "Main street in Montrose, Colorado." Special guest appearance by Reddy Kilowatt. Medium format negative by Russell Lee. View full size.

September 1940. "Station of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad at Ouray, Colorado. This narrow-gauge line formerly had passenger service but now is confined to freight service." Acetate negative by Russell Lee. View full size.

September 1940. "Derelict lighting plant in Silverton, Colorado." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

September 1940. "Theater in Ouray, Colorado." Now playing: "Primrose Path" with Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea. Photo by Russell Lee. View full size.

November 1940. "Children in yard of old Mormon house at Tropic, Utah." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

November 1940. "Pool hall and game parlor in Central Valley, California. This is one of the boom towns near Shasta Dam." Medium format acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.