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Photo galleries

  • Washington, D.C., 1902. "United States Capitol, East Front, central part of building." 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    The Gallery

    Fine-art prints by Juniper Gallery on a variety of archival art papers.

    15428 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 08/13/2025 - 4:14pm

  • July 1951. Los Angeles, California. "Nipper, a two-year-old cat owned by Dorothy Brinn of Hollywood, likes to eat his corn in comfort, so his mistress fixed up this skewer. The cat uses it for about two ears a day, having been a corn addict since his kitten days. Nip likes it best with butter." Acetate negative from the Shorpy News Photo Archive. View full size.

    Bizarre

    Bizarre, weird, rare historical photos. Because that's what the Internet wants.

    138 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 08/07/2025 - 12:34pm

  • It's seventy years ago in Idyllic Larkspur™, where we find me (bottom left corner) with Bob, David, Bob, Jim, Jim, Margaret, Sandy, Donna, Rae Ann, Roberta, Virginia, Jerry, Buzzy, Fred, Gordy, Frances, Alice, Alice, Sheila, Mrs. Madeline Drew and others whose names I forget. This was taken within a month of losing nearly half our classmates, they having been siphoned off to the district's brand new school in neighboring "Twin City," almost-as-Idyllic Corte Madera. And that one was already overcrowded, for which first-wave baby boomers such as we must shoulder the blame. As for me, good old L-CM was just four blocks from our home at 9 Arch Street, and I continued to walk the round-trip every school day, rain or shine, until I graduated 8th grade. View full size.

    Featured Contributors

    Shorpy contributor galleries.

    415 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 03/04/2023 - 8:07pm

  • From a discarded negative collection that belonged to a San Diego area barber. 120 format. View full size.

    Member Gallery

    Photos uploaded by visitors to Shorpy.com. To see your photos here, register for a user account and become a member! It may take a day or two for your photos to appear. If you're already a registered user, make sure you're logged in and then click here to upload. To see member submissions in blog form, click here.

    6069 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 06/28/2025 - 6:50pm

  • Washington, D.C., 1902. "United States Capitol, East Front, central part of building." 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    Places

    Black-and-white historical streetscape and skyline photographs of major American cities from the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s and 1930s. New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and more.

    8809 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 08/13/2025 - 4:14pm

  • October 1948. "Bergdorf Goodman -- Wonsover job for National Lead Company -- 22 transparencies." 4x5 inch Kodachrome transparency by Toni Frissell. View full size.

    Kodachromes

    Color transparencies including Kodachrome, Ektachrome and Anscochrome. Many large-format (mostly 4x5) Kodachrome transparencies shot for the Office of War Information. The images you see here have been adjusted by the Webmaster for color and contrast.

    615 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 07/19/2025 - 8:06pm

  • Washington, D.C., 1902. "United States Capitol, East Front, central part of building." 8x10 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    Photographers

    15139 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 08/13/2025 - 4:14pm

  • September 1939. "Calf-scramble. Central Iowa Fair, Marshalltown, Iowa." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Agriculture

    402 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 04/22/2025 - 3:24pm

  • July 1951. Los Angeles, California. "Nipper, a two-year-old cat owned by Dorothy Brinn of Hollywood, likes to eat his corn in comfort, so his mistress fixed up this skewer. The cat uses it for about two ears a day, having been a corn addict since his kitten days. Nip likes it best with butter." Acetate negative from the Shorpy News Photo Archive. View full size.

    Animals

    925 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 08/07/2025 - 12:34pm

  • "Perisphere and ramp at 1939 New York Word's Fair." Corpulent counterpoint to the trimmer Trylon. Uncredited acetate transparency, possibly by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

    Art & Design

    43 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 10/16/2022 - 4:15pm

  • Washington, D.C. "Prof. H.E. Burton, 8/5/29." A Star Search matinee. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

    Astronomy

    3 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 06/26/2013 - 10:51am

  • Washington, D.C. "Paragon adjustable and reversible aircraft propeller created by Spencer Heath and tested on October 11, 1922, at Bolling Field." 4x5 glass negative. View full size.

    Aviation

    308 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 03/31/2025 - 7:20pm

  • The photos you see here on Shorpy are not just resized versions of the images found in the Library of Congress archives -- they are extracted from the LOC's full-resolution reference tiffs: a process that generally takes anywhere from half an hour to several hours per monochrome image, depending on the amount of work that needs to be done to bring detail out of the shadows, suppress overexposed highlights, and remove blemishes caused by dust, scratches and mold. Color images require correction for color cast as well. The before-and-after composite above shows the condition of some of these old glass negatives a century after they were exposed, and how they look after a day at the digital restoration spa. This one is from 1908. View full size. Below is the 36 mb archival tiff resized to 512 px wide. The restored version is here. Below is another before-and-after example. Restored version. Below: Another monochrome example. Click to enlarge. A more extreme example below. Click here to enlarge. Compare the full-size Shorpy image to the closest match on the LOC site. Below: Underexposed, strong blue color cast. Below: A final monochrome example. Negative by Ansel Adams. Click to enlarge.

    Before & After

    2 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 10:15pm

  • May 31, 1943. A Memorial Day triptych: "Gallipolis, Ohio. Soldier, girl flag bearers, Girl Scouts at Decoration Day ceremonies." Photos by Arthur S. Siegel for the OWI. View full size.

    Bicycles

    ... and tricycles!

    249 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 05/26/2025 - 8:56am

  • Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1904. "Dudley Street Station, Boston 'L' Railway." A scene last glimpsed here, 15 years ago. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Photographic Co. View full size.

    Billboards

    11 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 04/18/2025 - 6:09pm

  • The St. Johns River circa 1910. "Lunch hour on the levee -- Jacksonville, Florida." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Boats & Bridges

    Hundreds of black-and-white photos of battleships, dreadnoughts, riverboats, paddle wheelers, cruise ships, ocean liners and Great Lakes freighters and ore carriers. Photos of suspension and truss bridges including the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Williamsburg Bridge and 59th Street Bridge.

    964 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/25/2025 - 12:58pm

  • October 1942. "Butte, Montana. Boy Scouts with a truckload of scrap during the salvage campaign." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    Boy Scouts

    49 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 12/02/2023 - 7:50pm

  • July 1955. "Camp Sunapee, New Hampshire. Campers making popcorn on a rainy day at Pleasant Lake." Another of the more than 800 Kodachrome slides taken by Toni Frissell for the Sports Illustrated assignment "Boys' Camp." View full size.

    Camping

    101 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 08/03/2024 - 2:50pm

  • Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1912. "Aragon Hotel, Forsyth & Julia Streets." The humble hostelry last glimpsed here. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Cars, Trucks, Buses

    Historical color and black-and-white photos of cars and trucks from the early 20th century: Model T Ford, Packard, Cadillac, Franklin, Renault, Oldsmobile and other marques from the brass era of automobiles; tailfinned road locomotives from the 1950s and beyond.

    2514 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 07/29/2025 - 10:27pm

  • Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1915. "Old Public Market." Market Hall on Meeting Street, with signage advertising a "Collection of Confederate Pictures & Relics, Open to Visitors." 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Civil War

    Black-and-white historical photos from the American Civil War. Wet plate collodion glass plate negatives exposed by Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Timothy O'Sullivan and other noted Civil War photographers. There are hundreds of photos in this gallery.

    333 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 06/07/2025 - 11:03am

  • Colorized version of this Shorpy old photo. View full size.

    Colorized Photos

    Vintage colorized photos from Shorpy contributors.

    1140 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 08/25/2020 - 9:38am

  • Leatherwood, Kentucky, 1964. "Boy covered by dirt smoking cigarette with one hand, holding can of tobacco in other." The tobacco-loving Cornett boys started early. Gedney Photographs Collection, Duke University. View full size.

    Cornett Family

    Willie and Vivian Cornett of Leatherwood, Kentucky, their 12 children and grandchildren as documented by William Gedney in 1964 and 1972. Photographs from Duke University's William Gale Gedney (1932-1989) Photographs and Writings Collection.

    18 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/20/2012 - 9:05pm

  • September 1938. "Decorations in back room of bar. ('The things that take you to HELL.') Raceland, Louisiana." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Curiosities

    114 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 10/31/2024 - 11:42am

  • June 1939. "Sons of day laborers in tent camp near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. Some of their fathers were agricultural workers and some were dispossessed tenant farmers now on Works Progress Administration. The WPA work is holding many of these former tenant farmers in their communities, but they are all potential migrants. None of these children had ever attended school." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Dust Bowl

    31 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 03/27/2018 - 10:48am

  • June 1939. "Main street of Pony, Montana. A ghost mining town." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Eateries & Bars

    Restaurants, bars and pop stands.

    370 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 04/26/2025 - 9:08pm

  • Savannah, Georgia, circa 1908. "Oglethorpe Avenue, Chatham Academy and Independent Presbyterian Church." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Education, Schools

    264 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 09/06/2024 - 4:17pm

  • Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Edwards boy at Octagon House." The enigmatic E-Boy, back for his sixth appearance. National Photo Co. View full size.

    Edwards Boy

    Who was he, and what became of him? The answer is ... Out There. Maybe.

    6 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 10/04/2012 - 2:54am

  • May 1956. Memphis, Tennessee. "Elvis Presley at home with his mother, Gladys." 35mm negative from photos by Philip Harrington for the Look magazine assignment "Elvis Presley -- He Can't Be, but He Is." View full size.

    Elvis 1956

    Photos of a 21-year-old Elvis Presley in 1956.

    9 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 10/21/2018 - 11:06am

  • 1899. "Maumee River front, Toledo, Ohio." (A more detailed panoramic version is here.) 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    Factories

    370 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 03/15/2025 - 4:10pm

  • March 1969. Pacific Palisades, California. "Soft Aluminum Group and chaise at the house (Dick Donges and Keith Hall carrying Eames lounge chair in a grassy field)." Color transparency from the Office of Charles and Ray Eames. View full size.

    Farked

    72 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 09/09/2023 - 4:33pm

  • Film Roll

    0 photos in this gallery

  • Washington, D.C. -- From around 1918-1922 comes this uncaptioned aerial view of firefighting equipment (and ginkgo trees) on H Street N.W. near the intersection with 14th Street. Who can tell us what happened here? 5x7 inch glass negative by Harris & Ewing. View full size.         UPDATE: Thanks to the excellent detective work of Shorpy member Notcom, we can now say that this photo documents the aftermath of a fire at the American Forestry Association offices in the Maryland Building, 1408 H Street N.W., on the afternoon of Monday, October 13, 1919.

    Fires, Floods etc.

    116 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 03/30/2025 - 12:46am

  • New York circa 1905. "Blockaded cars on 23rd Street." With the Flatiron Building looming skyward. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

    Flatiron Building

    Black-and-white historical photos of the Flatiron Building, a.k.a the Fuller Building, at Fifth Avenue and Broadway in Manhattan.

    21 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 01/24/2016 - 10:26am

  • October 1958, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Big brother is ready for a night of trick-or-treating. Rob from the rich, and share with your understudy! Our fourth selection from a batch of Kodachrome slides found on eBay. View full size.

    Found Photos

    Slides, mostly Kodachromes, snagged on eBay. Plus the odd Ektachrome, Anscochrome or black-and-white snapshot.

    241 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 10/31/2023 - 1:02pm

  • To download, right click on the image and save to your desktop. From the iPhone, tap the image and hold to save. See original image.

    Free iPhone Wallpaper

    Download free iPhone Wallpaper. These historic images are cropped to fit perfectly on your iPhone.

    31 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 09/11/2008 - 9:20am

  • June 1939. "Morris State Bank, founded by Charles Morris (at right) during the boom days. Closed at present. Pony, Montana." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA. View full size.

    Frontier Life

    77 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 04/30/2025 - 9:23pm

  • July 4, 1939. "Fourth of July celebration -- St. Helena Island, South Carolina." 35mm color transparency by Marion post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Gas Stations

    Filling stations and garages from the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

    315 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/04/2025 - 9:36am

  • Chelsea, Michigan, circa 1901. "Glazier Stove Company, machine room." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Glazier Stove Works

    Photos from 1901 documenting the Glazier Stove factory in Chelsea, Michigan.

    16 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 03/05/2017 - 9:02pm

  • November 1936. "Mother and three children in a California squatter camp." 4x5 inch nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.         Photo from this group of 211 images, which includes Lange's "Migrant Mother": Migrant agricultural workers in California in 1936. Photographs show squatter camps. Little Oklahoma. Families and their belongings in automobiles on the road. Car trouble along the road. Families existing in tent camps. Company housing for Mexican cotton pickers. Portraits of destitute migrants and their children. Hitch-hikers. Beet fields. Cotton pickers in the San Joaquin Valley. Lettuce and pea fields.

    Great Depression

    The economic crisis, beginning with the stock market crash of October 1929 and lasting until 1939, that saw millions of Americans plunged into poverty and destitution.

    212 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 04/08/2021 - 1:52pm

  •       On this Labor Day 2024, Shorpy wishes everyone a meaningful and at least momentary break from toil. "Powerhouse Mechanic and Steam Pump" (1921). One of Lewis Wickes Hine's celebrated "work portraits" made after his decade-long project documenting child labor. View full size.

    Handsome Rakes

    54 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 09/02/2024 - 12:40pm

  • January 29, 1921. Washington, D.C. "Herbert Bell and Joe Garso." Evidently lost to history. Does anyone out there remember them? Two final pics in the comments. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

    Herb & Joe

    Herbert Bell and Joe Garso, one-legged bicycle riders.

    4 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 08/13/2013 - 4:09pm

  • July 4, 1939. "Fourth of July celebration -- St. Helena Island, South Carolina." 35mm color transparency by Marion post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Holidays

    444 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/04/2025 - 9:36am

  • 1899. "Maumee River front, Toledo, Ohio." (Non-panoramic version here.) Detail of 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    Industry & Public Works

    105 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 03/15/2025 - 5:47pm

  • On this Christmas Eve, we travel back 80 years for a visit with the First Lady of Shorpy, Iola Swinnerton. Some two decades after her bathing-pageant days, she is still radiating beauty and cheer. Scroll down to the comments for more of Iola's life story. View full size. "STONE WOMAN" ENJOYS CHRISTMAS PREPAREDNESS         CHICAGO (Dec. 23, 1944) -- Mrs. Iola Swinnerton Warren, who suffered the illness known as myositis ossificans after inoculation for typhoid following a Florida hurricane, watches her husband Theron V. Warren and little nephew Herbert Taylor trim Christmas tree. (Acme Newspictures photo)

    Iola S.

    Miss Iola Swinnerton, First Lady of Shorpy. Current occupation: Angel.

    12 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 12/24/2024 - 4:00pm

  • Winter 1942. Washington, D.C. "Jewel Mazique on temporary duty checking filing systems in the Library of Congress." 4x5 inch acetate negative by John Collier for the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Information. View full size.

    Jewell Mazique

    Jewell R. Mazique (1913-2007), labor and civil rights activist and Library of Congress employee who was the subject of a documentary photo series taken in 1942 by John Collier for the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Information.

    6 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 01/16/2023 - 8:22pm

  • April 1943. Washington, D.C. "Victory garden sites on Fairlawn Avenue S.E. -- Children with rabbits which were formerly kept as pets, but now are being raised for food." Medium format nitrate negative by Joseph A. Horne for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    Kids

    An assortment of teens, tots, juveniles, youngsters, girls, boys and babes.

    2199 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 08/05/2025 - 1:05pm

  • May 1943. "Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Rural life along the Ohio River. Mrs. Ferguson making lemonade." Photo by Arthur S. Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    Kitchens etc.

    362 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 05/31/2025 - 10:02am

  • From July 1921, the Krazy Kat club off Thomas Circle in Washington, with Cleon Throckmorton to the right. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

    Krazy Kat Club

    5 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 01/19/2025 - 3:27pm

  • June (maybe May?) 1939. "Ghost mining town. Pony, Montana." Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Landscapes

    147 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 04/27/2025 - 12:28pm

  • Circa 1900. "Harry Houdini (1874-1926), full-length portrait, standing, in chains." McManus-Young Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.

    Magic & Spiritualism

    7 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 01/21/2019 - 3:10pm

  • New York circa 1910. "Putnam Building from Seventh Avenue and Broadway (Times Square)." Home to a variety of merchants and practitioners, as well as a Shanley's restaurant; across W. 44th Street we see the Hotel Astor. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

    Medicine

    213 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 05/20/2025 - 3:43pm

  • June 1939. "Morris State Bank, founded by Charles Morris (at right) during the boom days. Closed at present. Pony, Montana." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the FSA. View full size.

    Mining

    257 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 04/30/2025 - 9:23pm

  • May 1949. Washington, D.C. "Charles Farrar on Harley-Davidson motorcycle." 4x5 inch acetate negative by the African-American photographer Robert H. McNeill (1917-2005). View full size.

    Motorcycles

    Photos of motorbikes like the Harley-Davidson and Indian as well as motorized bicycles.

    60 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 12/16/2024 - 3:38pm

  • February 1943. Albuquerque, New Mexico. "Photographs show the modern city and 'Old Town' Albuquerque." Now playing at the "Pueblo Deco" Kimo on Route 66: Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt." Acetate negative by John Collier for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    Movies

    244 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 07/29/2024 - 9:58pm

  • March 1943. "Gallup, New Mexico. Houses for Indian and Mexican workers employed at the Santa Fe Railroad shops." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.

    Native Americans

    American Indians -- actual, pretend, and cultural derivatives.

    36 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 02/18/2025 - 3:03pm

  • May 1942. Kremmling, Colorado. "Soldiers from Fort Logan hitchhiking along U.S. Highway 40." Acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    On the Road

    67 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 02/18/2022 - 2:15pm

  • Painfully Obvious Photoshoppery

    0 photos in this gallery

  • July 4, 1939. "Fourth of July celebration -- St. Helena Island, South Carolina." 35mm color transparency by Marion post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

    Patriotic

    77 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/04/2025 - 9:36am

  • December 12, 1967. Wheaton, Maryland. "Shoppers walk past People's Drug and Christmas decorations at Wheaton Plaza shopping center." Back when "shopping days until Christmas" was a thing. 35mm negative by Warren K. Leffler for U.S. News & World Report. View full size.

    PDS

    People's Drug Stores, a once-ubiquitous retail chain in the Washington, D.C., area that was something like the Starbucks of patent remedies, cigars and "rubber goods." Interiors including soda fountains and exteriors including window displays.

    40 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 12/15/2024 - 4:25pm

  • March 1965. "The King Sisters in rehearsal for the ABC-TV musical variety series The King Family." 35mm Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon for Look magazine. View full size.

    Performing Arts

    308 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 05/11/2025 - 11:09am

  • "Echo Cliffs, Grand River Canyon, Colorado." Photochrom print published in 1914 from a glass negative taken many years earlier by William Henry Jackson, whose Western views, developed in his railcar-darkroom, formed the basis of Detroit Photographic's holdings in the company's early years. View full size.

    Photochrom

    Chromolithographs, generally postcards, made by the Detroit Publishing Co. using the Photochrom process.

    1 photo in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 04/04/2014 - 1:26pm

  • Savannah, Georgia, circa 1937. "Davenport house, Columbus Square." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.

    Piscatorial Downspouts

    1 photo in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 08/30/2012 - 11:05am

  • Milwaukee, 1900. "Hotel Pfister." Completed in 1893, and still standing at Wisconsin Avenue and Jefferson Street. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    Politics

    92 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 05/01/2025 - 7:06pm

  • January 1950. "Comedian Jack Benny with Eddie Anderson, who plays the character of Rochester, his valet, on the Jack Benny radio program." And, later in 1950, on his CBS television show. Color transparency by Frank Bauman for Look magazine. View full size.

    Portraits

    422 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 05/03/2025 - 3:58pm

  • For your Halloween enjoyment we present "The Commercial Vampire," a Leon Barritt cartoon from the July 20, 1898, issue of Vim, a short-lived satirical weekly published in New York. Painting department stores as bloodthirsty predators of small independent businesses, the same argument made today in some quarters against giant retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon. View full size.

    Posters

    Artwork for the Works Progress Administration, as well as fruit crate labels and other graphical goodness. These and many more examples can be found here.

    31 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 11/01/2013 - 9:33am

  • September 1953. "Teenagers at a party hosted by Teenage Cookbook author Betty Betz. Includes teenage girls pulling taffy as others watch." Ektachrome transparency by Charlotte Brooks for the Look magazine assignment "Teenage Party." View full size.

    Pretty Girls

    369 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 05/05/2025 - 2:23pm

  • December 1941. "Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas Island, Virgin Islands. A colored doll in one of the houses in a slum area." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size.

    Public Figures

    81 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 03/06/2019 - 4:03pm

  • The St. Johns River circa 1910. "Lunch hour on the levee -- Jacksonville, Florida." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Railroads

    Black-and-white and color historical photos of American railroads, locomotives, trains, depots and stations from the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century. Photos of steam locomotives and diesel engines. Elevated railways in New York and Chicago. There are hundreds of photos in this gallery.

    1383 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/25/2025 - 12:58pm

  • July 1942. "Nyssa, Oregon. Japanese-American boys at the newsstand on their weekly visit to town." Acetate negative by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    Relocation Camps

    World War 2 Japanese-American relocation camps.

    27 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 09/01/2022 - 10:13am

  • May 1943. "Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Rural life along the Ohio River. Mamie Fergusen Mayme Ferguson, wife of the local junior high school principal, wringing out clothes in the basement." Acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    Rural America

    379 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 05/31/2025 - 10:01am

  • Circa 1907. "The Water Tower -- Fort Thomas, Kentucky." Combining a 100,000-gallon standpipe and Spanish-American War memorial. View full size.

    S-A War

    Spanish-American War photos

    6 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 10/02/2014 - 2:34pm

  • June 1953. "Howdy Doody Show's Clarabell the Clown (actor Nick Nicholson) pays a one-week visit to the Dolan family in Boone County, West Virginia, after Linda Dolan, daughter of coal mine foreman, was the winner of the 'I'd Like Clarabell to Visit Me Because' contest." From photos by Phillip Harrington for the Look magazine assignment "Clarabell Takes to the Hills." View full size.

    Scary Clowns

    Clowns that are scary. Which of course would be all clowns.

    10 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 09/12/2017 - 8:05am

  • Columbus, Georgia, circa 1955. "Accident on 12th Street." Sandwiched between the post office and Collins Snack Bar. 4x5 acetate negative from the News Photo Archive. View full size.

    Signal 30

    Newspaper photos of 1950s car wrecks, generally around Oakland, California. 4x5 inch Kodak negatives.

    46 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 01/07/2023 - 2:27pm

  • May 1942. Yes, it's this guy again, somewhere in Grand Island, Nebraska, snapped by John Vachon for reasons unknown. Cinch up that tie and get back to work! View full size.

    Slender Man

    The star of eight enigmatic, uncaptioned exposures credited to John Vachon. Shot in May 1942 in Grand Island, Nebraska.

    3 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 03/08/2022 - 3:35pm

  • 1908. "Main Street -- Plymouth, New Hampshire." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Small Towns

    531 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 06/30/2025 - 9:33pm

  • Florida circa 1897. "Duck shooting from steamboat Cleo on the Indian River." 5x7 inch glass negative by William Henry Jackson, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.

    Sports

    770 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Wed, 06/11/2025 - 3:02pm

  • Buffalo, New York, circa 1910. "Main Street -- German Insurance Building -- Lafayette Square." Panoramic composite of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

    Stores & Markets

    1297 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/25/2025 - 10:32am

  • Buffalo, New York, circa 1910. "Main Street -- German Insurance Building -- Lafayette Square." Panoramic composite of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

    Streetcars

    Black-and-white historical photos of streetcars, trolleys and interurban railways from the early 20th century. Electric street railways and traction lines.

    699 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/25/2025 - 10:32am

  • The Steel Pier circa 1910. "Watching the bathers -- Atlantic City, New Jersey." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Swimming

    445 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 06/28/2025 - 1:35pm

  • Mrs. Beula Durrill Espy, of Van Horn, Texas shows off her cake at a picnic in west Texas, 1940. (Courtesy Portal to Texas History). View full size. You can see more images from the Texas Mountain Trail, a coalition of west Texas museums, in our gallery.

    Texas Mountain Trail

    5 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Fri, 07/03/2009 - 12:18pm

  • Detroit. "Summer 1941. Group of girls." Three of the young ladies from that card game, and three more who evidently didn't make the cut. Acetate negative by Arthur Siegel. View full size.

    The Card Game

    A curious set of photos from the Office of War Information archive, taken by Arthur Siegel in Detroit in the summer of 1941.

    11 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 06/02/2024 - 6:06pm

  • "Dickey Christmas tree, 1922." Our annual holiday visit with the family of Washington lawyer Raymond Dickey, who has a decade's worth of Christmas portraits in the archives of the National Photo Company. Some of which turned out better than others. View full size.

    The Dickeys

    Washington, D.C., lawyer Raymond Dickey and family, and Christmas tree.

    10 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Mon, 12/23/2024 - 3:06pm

  • Washington, D.C., 1912. "Southern Building, 15th and H Streets N.W." Home to the United States Trust Company, and just across the street from Fire Alarm Telegraph Station X444. The building, completed in 1912 (before experiencing a two-story growth spurt at some point), still stands. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    The Office

    194 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 06/12/2025 - 10:07pm

  • Toadlike Autocrats

    0 photos in this gallery

  • 1909. "Entrance to The Kittatinny, Delaware Water Gap, Pa." Our second glimpse of this rustic resort in as many days. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

    Travel & Vacation

    137 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Thu, 07/03/2025 - 12:00am

  • March 1965. "The King Sisters in rehearsal for the ABC-TV musical variety series The King Family." 35mm Kodachrome transparency by John Vachon for Look magazine. View full size.

    TV

    Photos relating to television sets and television shows.

    124 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 05/11/2025 - 11:09am

  • "James Dawson, arrested for Indecent Exposure. North Shields Police Station, 9th June 1902." Our first image from a photograph album of prisoners brought before the North Shields Police Court in England between 1902 and 1916, now in the collection of the Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums. View full size.

    Tyne & Wear

    Photographs from the Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums in England, including mug shots from the North Shields police department.

    1 photo in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 01/17/2012 - 11:41am

  • Circa 1905. Colorized Motor car, Canadian Government Colonization Co. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

    Very Old Ads

    13 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 02/06/2011 - 7:06pm

  •         We're reposting this just in case you've had enough of that other wedding between you-know-who and what's-her-name. 1914. "Kittens in costume as bride and groom, being married by third kitten in ecclesiastical garb." Holy catrimony! Photo by Harry W. Frees. View full size.

    Weddings

    33 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sat, 05/19/2018 - 1:54pm

  • April 1943. Washington, D.C. "Victory garden sites on Fairlawn Avenue S.E. -- Children with rabbits which were formerly kept as pets, but now are being raised for food." Medium format nitrate negative by Joseph A. Horne for the Office of War Information. View full size.

    WW2

    World War 2 photos documenting life on the home front, including defense plants manufacturing aircraft and armaments, and the railroads and trains that moved them to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Many large-format Kodachromes by Jack Delano and other photographers on assignment for the Office of War Information, as well as photos by Ansel Adams documenting Japanese-American internment camps along the West Coast.

    740 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 08/05/2025 - 1:05pm

  • October 7, 1921. Aberdeen, Maryland. "Military artillery on Ordnance Day." A demonstration at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground of its 12-inch, 35-caliber M1895 gun on an M1918 railway carriage. 4x5 inch glass negative, Harris & Ewing Collection. View full size.

    WWI

    186 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Sun, 03/30/2025 - 3:23pm

  • November 2, 1931. Washington, D.C. "Navy airship U.S.S. Akron over the Lincoln Memorial." 4x5 inch nitrate negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size. THE AKRON'S VISIT.         The giant airship Akron arrived yesterday to salute the Capital on its first flight, after having been officially dedicated to Navy service on Navy Day. Accompanied by its older, slimmer sister, the Los Angeles, the Akron, bearing 108 men, circled over the city, dipped in salute to the White House, and gave Washingtonians their first chance to see the world's largest and newest dirigible. (Washington Post, 11.3.31)

    Zeppelins & Blimps

    41 photos in this gallery

    Last updated: Tue, 09/26/2023 - 7:48pm

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