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About the Photos
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.
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Whee. Yippee. Yahoo.
Submitted by Dave on Wed, 06/13/2007 - 5:15am.
"Fall 1939." Little boy with what looks like a motorized Erector set. Another snapshot I found on eBay. View full size. Where are you now, kid?
Toy Boy
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 6:49pm.
He reminds me of my cousin who would spend HOURS zipping and unzipping our suitcases when we came to visit. He wanted to know how they worked. He's in engineering now.
Sailor Suit
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sun, 08/26/2007 - 2:03am.
When I was a kid, about 5 years younger, I had a sailor suit and a soldier's khaki uniform ... later I joined the Coast Guard
A. C. Gilbert
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Sun, 08/26/2007 - 1:58am.
manufacturer of Erector Sets and American Flyer trains...
Wish I'd had this set!
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 08/20/2007 - 3:23pm.
The tower struts and flat strapping look very familiar but the angled struts at the top are different than the erector set I had. Must be unique to this set. Oh yeah, the sets had electric motor(s) included because I recall making a helicopter with rotating main and tail rotors. My fingers got sore from all those square nuts and my screwdriver kept slipping out of those slotted head bolts! An ever-popular creation was an elevator. I'd spread the leaves on Mom's kitchen table and that way it was a long lift from the floor. Did the same thing with tinkertoys.
I want my old toys back
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 06/18/2007 - 4:43am.
Back in the good old days, if you wanted a Transformer you had to make one, and that was the fun of it. I think we were smarter for it.
Retired..
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Wed, 06/13/2007 - 10:29pm.
..from some sort of engineering job, if I had a guess.
High Voltage!!!
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Wed, 06/13/2007 - 2:29pm.
This ain't no battery powered job, is it. An all metal toy assembled by an 8 year old and powered by a 120 volt DC motor. No wonder his hair is kind of standing on end!
Grand memories
Submitted by Gary on Wed, 06/13/2007 - 10:59am.
I remember every piece on that Erector Set. I loved these sets as a kid and had many of them. Ahh... memories!
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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.
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