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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]
August 1936. "People living in miserable poverty. Elm Grove, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma." Medium-format nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. The girl can also be seen here.
Washington, D.C., 1921. "Mrs. Ryan, War Risk." An employee of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. View full size. National Photo Company Collection.
June 1862. Fair Oaks, Virginia. "Frame house on Fair Oaks battlefield used by Hooker's division as a hospital." Wet plate glass negative, right half of stereo pair. Photograph by James F. Gibson. View full size. Closeups of the windows.
May 14, 1862. Cumberland Landing, Virginia. "Group of contrabands [runaway slaves] at Foller's house." Photographs from the main Eastern theater of war: The Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862. Wet-plate glass negative, half of stereograph pair. View full size. Photograph by James F. Gibson (b. 1828).
Washington, D.C., 1923. "Will Roberts, Eastern High." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. Note the little puff of left-foot dust.
October 1935. "Road to Nicholson Hollow. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia." View full size. Medium format nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA.
April 1943. Clinton, Iowa. Chicago & North Western Railroad "Mrs. Elibia Siematter, employed as a sweeper at the roundhouse." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.
July 1939. "Migrant boy removing guitar before family leaves for California. At old homestead near Muskogee, Oklahoma." View full size. Medium format safety negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration.
July 1941. "Sunday afternoon visitors. Vincennes, Indiana." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.
September 13, 1923. Washington, D.C. "W.H. Murphy of the Protective Garment Corp. of New York stood less than ten feet from [Frederick County, Md.] Deputy Sheriff Charles W. Smith in police headquarters Wednesday and let the deputy fire a .38 caliber revolver straight at his chest. When the bullet hit, Murphy never batted an eye. Inventors ot the bulletproof vest, which weighs about 11 pounds, have put iten the market for the protection of police and other officers in emergency cases. The bullet which Deputy Smith fired into the vest Wednesday was presented to him for a souvenir." View full size. National Photo Company.
May 1940. "Pool room in Scranton, Iowa." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.
November 1939. Butler County, Missouri. "Washing clothes at camp for evicted sharecroppers." View full size. Medium format negative by Arthur Rothstein.
September 1943. "Greyhound bus trip from Louisville, Kentucky, to Memphis, Tennessee. Waiting for the bus at the Memphis terminal." View full size. Medium-format negative by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information.
September 13, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Testing bulletproof vest." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. [Update: more here.]
May 14, 1925. Washington, D.C. "Western High School fencing team." 4x5 glass negative from the National Photo Company Collection. View full size.