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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]
"1935 Ford Tudor sedan at gas station." The year is 1941, and we are somewhere in Southern California. Kodachrome by our West Coast "carrespondent" Don Cox. View full size.
Edward and Gwen Butler, my grandparents, lived in this trailer in Connecticut. It's rather dwarfed by the massive '55 Buick and the 15-foot TV antenna. They had just returned from a trip to England, hence the luggage at the door. Photo by Edward Butler circa 1957 on a 35mm Kodachrome slide, scanned February 2021. View full size.
March 1941. "Defense workers in front of rooming houses. Norfolk, Virginia." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Atlantic City isn't the only place with a Boardwalk, ya know. Out here in California we've had the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk since 1907. Its Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster is a National Historic Landmark. In another kind of history, back in 2008 its late, lamented Fun House was the location in one of my very earliest Shorpy photo submissions. I took my 1984 shot on 35mm Kodacolor VR 100 with my Konica Autoreflex T. View full size.
March 1941. "Boy from Maryland in charity ward, Saint Vincent's Hospital. Norfolk, Virginia." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1941. "Charity ward, Saint Vincent's Hospital, Norfolk, Virginia." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1941. "Houses near Navy yard. Portsmouth, Virginia." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
"Girl 1943" is all it says on this Kodachrome snapped by Navy photographer's mate Don Cox on a beach that would seem to be somewhere in the vicinity of San Diego. View full size.
March 1941. "Mother and children from North Carolina farm. They came to Norfolk, Virginia, so husband and older sons could get employment in defense industries." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1941. "Daughters of defense worker. Negro slum district. Norfolk, Virginia." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1941. "Gas station. King William County, Virginia." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1941. "Mission pianist in his room at the Helping Hand Mission. Portsmouth, Virginia." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
June 1941. "Wife of defense worker setting table for dinner in trailer home. Trailer camp at Erie, Pennsylvania." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size.
March 1936. "Photographer's window of penny portraits. Birmingham, Alabama." 8x10 acetate negative by Walker Evans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1901. "Man standing in front of Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. on unidentified street; name and address of building obscured by tree." 5x7 inch glass negative, D.C. Street Survey Collection. View full size.