New Orleans circa 1906. "Charcoal lugger in the Old Basin." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Drying fish." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Court Street, Ames Building, Young's Hotel." Plus a subway entrance. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Worcester, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Union Station." Whose clock tower illustrates the campanile vogue in public architecture at its vertiginous peak. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Wyandotte, Michigan, circa 1915. "Detroit Shipbuilding Co., scrap room." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

April 27, 1914. Detroit, Michigan. "Stables, Gordon & Pagel Co. bakery." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

New York circa 1908. "Herald Square." Panorama composed of two 8x10 inch glass negatives, digitally merged, showing Broadway at 34th Street. Landmarks include the the New York Herald newspaper building (with its clockwork blacksmith bell-ringers and electrified owls), Sixth Avenue elevated tracks, New York Times building and Hotel Astor. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1910. "Boston and Maine Railroad depot, Riley Plaza." Our second look at this castle-depot and its steam-snorting iron horse. 6½ x 8½ inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1922. "Unidentified woman." Trying to tell us ... something. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Central High School swimming pool." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Munger Motor & Mfg. Co., front." On the minus side of the ledger, this glass negative has light leaks, dirt, mold and probably halitosis. On the plus side we have beer, motorbikes, circus posters and Freedom Lunch. This circa 1890s Pabst brewery on North Capitol Street would be returning to its beverage roots (minus the alcohol) in just a few years as the Whistle Bottling Works. National Photo Company Collection. View full size.

On location in Santa Cruz, California, my brother and me, garbed appropriately for the period. My Braun Nizo was something like the BMW of Super-8 movie cameras (the Bolex being perhaps the Mercedes): f1.8 11-to-1 zoom lens, lap dissolve function, 18, 24 and 54 fps filming speeds, auto and manual exposure. I see I haven't yet gotten my Bilora tripod with the super-smooth pan head. I'm 28, and already wisps of gray hair are appearing. Cropped from a 35mm Ektachrome shot by my sister-in-law. View full size.

Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Essex Street, looking north from town square." Our third look at this cable-ready mini-metropolis. 6½ x 8½ inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Continuing our tour of Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Colonial House." Next door to a nickelodeon advertising "moving pictures and illustrated songs." 6½ x 8½ inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

New York circa 1912. "Plaza Hotel, Fifth Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.