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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]
July 15, 1921. Cleon Throckmorton at the easel on the terrace of the Krazy Kat, an establishment described by the Washington Post two years earlier as "something like a Greenwich Village coffeehouse." Scroll down to the comments for more on "Throck," an engineering graduate who made his name designing sets for Eugene O'Neill's plays, and was the first art director for CBS in the early days of television. National Photo Company Collection. View full size.
July 1937. "Man who worked in Fullerton, Louisiana, lumber mill for 15 years. He is now left stranded in the cut-over area." View full size. 4x5 nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.
One cold February night your webmaster was faced with a choice: Poignant sepia- tinged Lewis Hine urchin ("says 12 yrs., but it is doubtful") or a 1957 Kodachrome titled "Three Girl Pyramid." After a nanosecond of deliberation, the Oscar for Best Transparency in a 100-Year-Old Photo Blog goes to: "Three Girl Pyramid"! [Rest of the caption: "Beautiful Florida Cypress Gardens 4/5/57."] View full size.
Montgomery County, Maryland. The roller coaster at Glen Echo Park in 1926. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.
Houston, Texas. October 1913. "Fourteen-year-old Western Union Messenger #43. Works until 10:30 p.m. Goes to Reservation [red light district] some." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
August 1941. Laredo, Montana. "Farm Security Administration borrower and 2 of his children." View full size. Medium format negative by Marion Post Wolcott.
July 15, 1921. Our third photo of the treetop table at the Krazy Kat club in Washington. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. (Coming Monday: Details on the Krazy Kat and one of the notables who ran it.)
Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Nutrition Division, Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture." View full size. National Photo Company.
"Dinner at Broad Channel." Summer cottage in the Jamaica Bay, Queens, island community circa 1915. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection.
July 15, 1921. More strange goings-on at the Krazy Kat. Our waiter has a ball and chain dangling from his sleeve. National Photo Company. View full size.
"Cypress Gardens, Fla. Visited April 5, 1957." From a new set of found 35mm Kodachromes. This one probably purchased in the gift shop. View full size.
Washington. D.C. One of six National Photo glass negatives from 1921 labeled "Krazy Kat," showing a group of college-age kids painting and smoking in the yard of what seems to be a club or restaurant. Which has a treehouse. View full size.
1924. Montgomery County, Maryland. More fun at the Elks outing at Glen Echo Park. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.