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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]
December 1911. "3:30 P.M. -- Picking nuts in dirty basement tenement, 143 Hudson Street, New York. The dirtiest imaginable children were pawing over the nuts, eating lunch on the table, etc. Mother had a cold, blew her nose frequently (without washing hands) and the dirty handkerchief reposed comfortably on the table and close to the nuts and nut meats. The father picks now -- 'No work to do at any business.' (Has a cobbler's shop in the room.) They said the children didn't pick near. (Probably a temporary respite.)" The Libertine family, seen earlier here. 5x7 inch glass negative by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
May 1939. "Grain elevators on Henry Sheffels' 6,000-acre wheat ranch. Cascade County, Montana." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Circa 1910. "The barracks, Fort Oglethorpe, Chickamauga Park, Georgia." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Circa 1910. "St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
New Orleans circa 1910. "City Hall, Lafayette Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Pensacola, Florida, circa 1910. "American National Bank, Palafox Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
New Orleans circa 1910. "Gayarre Place monument, Esplanade Avenue." In its current incarnation, the monument's much-abused sculpture ("Peace, the Genius of History," originally displayed at the 1884 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition) has regained an arm but lost the cherubs. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
New York circa 1921. "Greenwich Village, Manhattan -- Washington Square and Fifth Avenue." 5x7 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.
June 1939. "Blacksmith shop now used for auto repair. Glendive, Montana." A strong horseshoe motif here, architecturally speaking, in addition to the giant pile of actual horseshoes. Roofline of alphabetical anvils by Wile E. Coyote. "Wrecking" by "Joe Balison," who seems to be a fan of quote marks. Medium format negative by "Arthur Rothstein" for the "Farm Security Administration." View full size.
San Francisco circa 1926. "Dodge ambulance." Today's chapter in the Shorpy Chronicle of Convalescent Conveyances. Photo by Chris Helin. View full size.
June 1939. "General store in Pony, Montana." Back when the brands on stallions, bulls and heifers migrated to the gas station. Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
June 1939. "Ruins of blacksmith shop. Virginia City, Madison County, Montana." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
"Ray Weishaar, winner of 100-mile race at Norton, Kansas. October 22, 1914. Time 2 hr. 1½ min. World record." Lawrence Ray Weishaar (1890-1924), the "Kansas Cyclone" and rider for the Harley-Davison "Wrecking Crew," died at the age of 33 after crashing his bike during a race in Los Angeles. View full size.
December 1943. Washington, D.C. "Decorating the tree at a Christmas Eve party given by Local 203 of the United Federal Workers of America, Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)." Photo by Joseph A. Horne. View full size.
April 1952. "Bandleader Spike Jones and his City Slickers performing in Grand Forks, North Dakota." From the Look magazine photo assignment "Spike Jones: There's a Method in His Madness." Musicians in the band include Sir Frederick Gas, George Rock, Guy Raymond and Dick Morgan. View full size.