I'm sure Santa has been or will be good to this serious little guy, reminiscent though he may be of Augustus Gloop. I can't read the calendar, but the 31st falling on a Friday makes it either 1926 or '37. After researching, I found out that "Boy Scouts to the Rescue" came out in 1921, and the little poem "Am I Ready for School?" was mentioned in a 1924 Louisiana State Health Department bulletin. Any thoughts? [Update: The calendars are from January 1941.] View full size.

"Dorsey Christmas tree, 1922." Merry Christmas to all from Shorpy! National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C. "Post Office Department. Motorcycle postman. 1912." S14 collects the mail. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1918. From a batch of orphaned negatives whose captions are "No caption." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

December 24, 1954. The only explanation I can come up with for my disturbing expression is that this was the same year my brother took me to see Rear Window. But, since it's the only one of me hanging my Christmas stocking (or of anybody in our family hanging one), I'm stuck with it. And my brother jiggled the camera. Funny thing is, there's already stuff in the stocking (probably with a tangerine down in the toe, like always). I'm 8 and well past the Santa Claus pretense, so I'm probably just helping with the decor. Anyway, what I'm mainly interested in is all the really good stuff that'll be there the next morning. My favorite thing here is all the junk (undoubtedly mine) exploding out of the shelf behind the TV.

Many thanks to everybody who's said nice things about my photos, and gigantic thanks to Dave not only for Shorpy itself, but for his ever-expert editorial emendations. I've had a ball here. View full size.

This is how you pull over for a family meal during a road trip. It's the early 60's and the family is off to visit Canada. Kodachrome slide. That camp stove used white gas. View full size.

May 1910. East St. Louis, Illinois. "Noon hour at Obear-Nestor Glass Co. Names of the smaller boys are: Walter Sohler, 918 N. 18th Street; Walter Riley, 918 N. 17th Street; Will Convery, 1828 Natalie Avenue; Clifford Matheny, 1927 Summit Ave. All these boys were working." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Circa 1920. "George Barkhausen's Christmas tree." Yet another tastefully understated tree-n-train yuletide display. National Photo Co. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Woodward & Lothrop window." Department store display with a motoring theme. National Photo glass negative. View full size.

May 9, 1910. St. Louis, Missouri. "Johnnie Burns, a newsie who sells on Grand Avenue. 9 yrs old. Father says he is uncontrollable. Father also said his 4-year-old twins would be selling soon." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

December 1919. "Christmas tree at the District Jail, Washington, D.C., and some of the prisoners." National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "H.I. Scharr Electric Co., front." Harry Scharr started out with a store at 711 13th Street N.W., then added a location at 739 11th Street. In 1927 he filed for bankruptcy. National Photo Co. View full size.

"Game of craps. Cincinnati, Ohio. August 1908." Back in the good old days when kids made their own low-tech fun. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Washington circa 1928. "Christmas tree. No caption information, title devised by library staff." Click here for a closeup of the train set, which has a duck pond and a birdbath. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington circa 1922. "349 22nd Street." National Photo. View full size.