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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 1940. "Christmas shopping crowds. Gadsden, Alabama." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
November 1942. Lititz, Pennsylvania. "Mr. O.K. Bushong, express agent. Two trains a day pass through Lititz on the Lancaster-Reading Railroad. He says that passenger trade has increased 100 percent since war." Photo by Marjory Collins, Office of War Information. View full size.
January 1942. "Sonoma County, California. Eggs. (Poultry raising exclusively for egg production on a scientific basis)." Photo by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Updated April 2021 with a better scan of this Kodachrome.
December 1942. "40th Street Shops (Chicago & North Western locomotive shops at Chicago)." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
My father at the wheel of our 1956 Rambler station wagon, somewhere in California in 1963. A patch of blue down the right edge says that my mother's in the front seat; I was in the back seat with my camera loaded with Ektachrome-X. I'm pretty sure by this point the dome light had lost its cover. View full size.
Dearborn, Michigan, 1946. "Ford Rouge B-Building. Cars leaving assembly line." Ansco color transparency from the Ford Motor Co. photographic archives. View full size.
Chesapeake Bay (Maryland) ca. 1950. "Water scenes. Boat in foreground, lighthouse in distance. Made for Mr. Sharpe of Potomac Electric Power Co." Ragged Point Light in the Potomac River. 5x7 inch nitrate negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
Washington, D.C., 1915. "Riggs Market." On P Street N.W. between 14th and 15th since 1877, it closed in December 1945 to make way for an automobile showroom, according to the Washington Post. 8x10 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "National Fruit Co. banana truck." Salvatore Scalco's produce business on Louisiana Avenue. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "S.W. Barrow," the caption on this National Photo glass negative, name-checks District real estate developer Samuel W. Barrow, who may have had something to do with this work near his home on Monroe Street N.E. (a neighborhood last seen here) at the intersection with 18th. Note the gas station in the background. View full size.
May 1942. Lincoln, Nebraska. "University of Nebraska during final exam and commencement week. Bob Aden studying with his wife in their apartment." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
May 1942. Lincoln, Nebraska. "University of Nebraska during final exam and commencement week. Bob Aden (at the second table) studying in the library. He is working toward a master's degree in Business Administration; his wife is in the university's Liberal Arts college." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
San Francisco, 1928. "Stutz two-door five-passenger sedan." The "Splendid Stutz" was also marketed as the "Safety Stutz," featuring four-wheel hydraulic brakes and wire-reinforced glass. 5x7 inch glass negative by Christopher Helin. View full size.
"Astoria '44" is the latest Kodachrome from Navy photographer's mate Don Cox. The view here is looking west along Commercial Street at the intersection with 14th. View full size.
Dearborn, Michigan. "1954 Ford Crestline Fordor Sedan." With room in back for their 2.5 kids. Color transparency from the Ford Motor Co. photographic archives. View full size.