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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]
1912. "Dr. George Stiles. Bacteriologist at George Washington University who was supposed to have discovered a TB germ." Harris & Ewing. View full size.
1917. "Baltimore and Ohio Railway. Safety first train." The train, according to newspaper accounts, carried exhibits "informing the public of the careful and effective means that are being taken by the government in the interest of good health, safety and preparedness." Shown here at Union Station in Washington. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
1915. "National Guard of D.C. -- Field tactics." Nothing like a blanket toss to confuse the enemy. Note the Hollywood type behind the movie camera. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
September 1916. "Kron Prinz Wilhelm, German ship, interned in U.S. in tow." The former passenger liner, pressed into service as a commerce raider by the Imperial German Navy at the start of World War I, being towed from the Norfolk yards to Philadelphia. During its eight months on the high seas -- after leaving New York Harbor with 2,000 tons of coal -- the converted 15,000-ton cruiser sank more than a dozen Allied ships and took hundreds of prisoners. Running low on supplies, its crew and prisoners beset by a variety of illnesses, the battered vessel sought refuge in April 1915 at Newport News, where its sailors were interned for over a year. After the United States entered the war, the ship was seized by the government, rechristened the USS Von Steuben and converted into a troop carrier. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
1916. "Senate pages. Marshall, center, giving dinner to pages." I know you'll all be on your very best behavior. Harris & Ewing Collection negative. View full size.
1917. "Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, tabulating machine." An early punch-card tabulator, a distant forebear of today's computers. Two photos of this monster yet to come. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
"1916. German sailor interned in U.S." A sailor from the cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, interned along with the Kronprinz Wilhelm, their crews and a menagerie of mascots at Norfolk, Va., in 1915. Harris & Ewing Collection. View full size.
"Miss Mary E. Patton. Dog Show, 1915." One of many images from the Washington dog show of 1915 showing fancy canines and their even fancier owners, all of them female for some reason. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
1921. The Trevor family's trip through the western United States. From the John B. Trevor collection. More here. View full size.
Washington, D.C., in 1913. "Baseball, professional. St. Louis players." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
Richmond, Virginia, circa 1905. "Main Street from Eleventh." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. An earlier (and lower) view here.
"Untitled circa 1910-1917." Who is this boho hobo -- a tramp with a literary bent who did well in track and field? We do know that he's standing outside Bryan's Lunch Room (George F. Bryan, proprietor) at 101 B Street S.E. in Washington. Something else we know: Bryan's had a duckpin bowling team in the Capitol Hill league. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
Untitled circa 1916. It was love at first sight. (The girl looks strangely familiar. Have we seen her before?) Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. Update: This photo appeared in the October 1916 issue of Popular Science with the caption "Preparing to examine an employee in the United States Treasury Department to determine the effect of work on the eyes." View full size.
1917. "Mrs. Newton D. Baker." Elizabeth Leopold Baker, wife of the Secretary of War, strikes a vixenish pose. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.