Image galleries | Shorpy Historical Photo Archive

Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.

Image galleries

Cities

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.

3763 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 02/03/2012 - 9:25pm

Featured Contributors

Shorpy contributor galleries.

415 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 02/02/2012 - 1:19pm

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.

3750 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 02/04/2012 - 12:24am

Kodachromes

Large-format (mostly 4x5) Kodachrome transparencies.

338 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 01/23/2012 - 1:54am

ShorpyArt

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

6533 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 02/03/2012 - 10:23pm

Photographers

6390 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 02/03/2012 - 10:23pm

Agriculture

90 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 11/28/2011 - 7:38am

Animals

426 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 02/02/2012 - 2:22pm

Art & Design

42 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:26am

Astronomy

1 photo in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 12/01/2007 - 9:26am

Aviation

174 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 01/25/2012 - 12:40am

Before & After

2 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 11:15pm

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.

412 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 02/03/2012 - 10:23pm

Boy Scouts

35 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 06/05/2011 - 6:16pm

Cars+Trucks

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.

876 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 01/28/2012 - 1:26pm

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.

225 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 01/21/2012 - 6:30am

Colorized Photos

Vintage colorized photos from Shorpy contributors.

367 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 02/04/2012 - 12:20am

Cornett Family

Willie and Vivian Cornett, their 12 children and grandchildren. Leatherwood, Kentucky, in 1964 and 1972.

16 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 10/05/2010 - 9:23pm

Curiosities

110 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 12/16/2011 - 11:36am

Dust Bowl

7 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 09/16/2008 - 2:23am

Eateries & Bars

130 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 01/29/2012 - 12:41pm

Education

141 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 01/22/2012 - 12:52pm

Factories

179 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 01/31/2012 - 1:06pm

Farked

63 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 12/26/2011 - 11:54pm

Fires, Floods etc.

60 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 09/15/2011 - 1:45pm

Flatiron Building

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

14 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:26pm

Florida

102 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 01/23/2012 - 10:50pm

Found

25 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 08/09/2008 - 8:19am

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 - 10:20am

Frontier Life

17 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 05/07/2011 - 4:33pm

Gas Stations

Filling stations from the 1910s and 1920s.

72 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 12/14/2011 - 5:24pm

Handsome Rakes

29 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 12/26/2011 - 11:54pm

Herb & Joe

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

4 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 09/13/2011 - 12:35pm

Holidays

255 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 01/01/2012 - 12:00am

Industry & Public Works

39 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 06/08/2011 - 3:14pm

Japanese-American Relocation

18 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 10/07/2008 - 1:15am

Kids

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

1053 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 12/29/2011 - 9:33pm

Kitchens etc.

115 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 12/31/2011 - 4:56pm

Krazy Kat Club

5 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 09/09/2011 - 2:40pm

Landscapes

41 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 09/12/2011 - 1:22pm

Magic & Spiritualism

5 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 11/28/2007 - 3:49pm

Medicine

101 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 01/28/2012 - 5:21pm

Mining & Forestry

99 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 12/13/2011 - 2:26pm

Movies

84 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 11/28/2011 - 2:11pm

On the Road

41 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 09/29/2011 - 7:16pm

Painfully Obvious Photoshoppery

1 photo in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 11/04/2008 - 3:05am

Patriotic

32 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 09/05/2011 - 11:17pm

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.

30 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 12/08/2011 - 11:07am

Performing Arts

147 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 12/30/2011 - 2:26pm

Pie Town

31 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 09/13/2011 - 11:11pm

Piscatorial Downspouts

1 photo in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 08/15/2011 - 9:28pm

Politics

41 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 10/15/2011 - 3:13am

Portraits

252 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 02/01/2012 - 3:14pm

Posters

29 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 05/04/2011 - 9:11am

Pretty Girls

118 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 01/27/2012 - 7:08pm

Public Figures

58 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 01/25/2012 - 12:40am

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.

547 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 02/03/2012 - 1:34pm

Rural America

234 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 02/02/2012 - 6:33pm

S-A War

Spanish-American War photos

4 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sat, 09/25/2010 - 4:11pm

Scary Clowns

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

7 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Wed, 09/14/2011 - 7:02pm

Small Towns

113 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 12/29/2011 - 2:26pm

Sports

544 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 01/26/2012 - 12:15am

Stores & Markets

510 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 01/22/2012 - 5:32pm

Streetcars

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

261 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 02/03/2012 - 1:34pm

Swimming

167 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 01/19/2012 - 9:52am

Texas Mountain Trail

5 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 07/03/2009 - 1:18pm

The Depression

127 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 07/31/2011 - 8:49pm

The Office

66 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 11/15/2011 - 11:18pm

Toadlike Autocrats

1 photo in this gallery

Last updated: Tue, 11/04/2008 - 3:05am

Travel & Vacation

112 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Thu, 02/02/2012 - 1:19pm

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 - 12:41pm

Very Old Ads

13 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Sun, 02/06/2011 - 8:06pm

Weddings

23 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 11/12/2010 - 2:44pm

WW2

340 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 01/23/2012 - 1:54am

WWI

127 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Mon, 01/09/2012 - 6:12pm

Zeppelins & Blimps

28 photos in this gallery

Last updated: Fri, 04/22/2011 - 2:21pm

THE 100-YEAR-OLD PHOTO BLOG

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.