Hollywood, 1953. "Actress Marilyn Monroe, playfully elegant at home." 35mm negative by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life photo archive. View full size.

Washington circa 1925. "Homeopathic Hospital." Which seems to have been at the corner of Second and N. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

December 1955. Here's our family's entry in the Shorpy Christmas tree sweepstakes. Devoid of any jolly celebrants, unfortunately, but at least we have my mother's curtains and drapes. Many vintage ornaments are in evidence: Santa heads, houses, a table lamp, a mushroom, an angel, a prizefighter, some birds with spun glass or celluloid tailfeathers, and one of my personal favorites, a big one we always called "the stars and stripes forever" on the left a little more than halfway up. Some were from my Mother's family and dated back to the early 1900s, including one that still had wax drippings on it from when you actually lit your tree with candles. On the right, our Motorola hosts the Nativity scene complete with plastic Wise Men. Sharp-eyed observers may note that on the window seat, the fishbowl, vacant a year later, here appears to be inhabited. My brother recorded the available-light exposure details for this Kodachrome slide on the mount: f2.8 @ 1 second, during which he jiggled the camera slightly. View full size.

June 3, 1924. "Leonard and Edna Wilbur," children of Navy Secretary Curtis Wilbur. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co." The maintenance shed. National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size.

Art class circa 1940. "Montgomery High School students, Maryland." Our third or fourth photo from Montgomery High. Anyone have an old yearbook from there? National Photo Company Collection safety negative. View full size.

"Secretary Davis, Christmas tree, 1921." James J. Davis, Secretary of Labor in the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover administrations, moonlighting as Santa Claus. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington circa 1914. "H.E.F. & A.W.L. in Detroiter." Herbert E. French, driving, was the owner of National Photo Company; "Artie" Leonard was one of its photographers. They're at the Tidal Basin on the Inlet Bridge, with the Washington Monument in back. National Photo glass negative. View full size.

The Raleigh Hotel at 12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington circa 1911. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

May 9, 1960. A landmark image in the history of modern architecture: Julius Shulman's nighttime shot of Ann Lightbody and Cynthia Murfee in Case Study House No. 22, the Stahl residence in the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Sunset Boulevard. Architect: Pierre Koenig. The photo, taken with a Swiss-made Sinar 4x5 view camera, is a double exposure: Seven minutes for the background, then a flash shot for the interior, the house lights having been replaced with flashbulbs. There's a fascinating account of the image at Taschen, where you can order a book on the Case Study houses. View full size | L.A. Mag article.

Oak Park, Illinois, 1952. My grandmother (left), mother (center), and aunts. One of my cousins is leaning against the wall, her feet visible in the lower center of the photo. The occasion was probably a holiday, as the ladies are wearing their Sunday best, and that huge cooking pot had to have held a turkey. My mom, the only adult in the photo who's still with us, thinks it may have been Christmas. 35mm slide. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Star Building from air." The Washington Star newspaper building at the center is at the intersection of 11th Street N.W. and Pennsylvania Avenue, which runs diagonally across the photo. The big building with the tower us the Old Post Office. There's a lot to see here, including laundry hung out to dry. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

September 23, 1926. "White House dog, medicine balls." And that's all they wrote. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Christmas 1953. Oak Park, Illinois. My cousin Tom experiencing the thrill of his first Lionel electric train. My Uncle Bill is manning the transformer, and my dad, who was a real-life railroad engineer, is on the right. 35mm slide. View full size.

St. Louis, Missouri. "11 a.m. Monday May 9, 1910. Newsies at Skeeter's Branch, Jefferson near Franklin. They were all smoking." Our third visit with this memorable group. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.