1865. "Charleston Orphan Asylum, 160 Calhoun Street, used as a hospital for wounded Federal soldiers." From photographs of the Federal Navy and seaborne expeditions against the Atlantic Coast of the Confederacy, 1863-1865." Wet-plate glass negative, half of stereograph pair, photographer unknown. View full size.

1956. Edina, Minnesota. "Interior Garden Court with stairway to upper level in Southdale Regional Shopping Center, the first enclosed shopping mall." Color transparency by Grey Villet, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

Washington circa 1920. "People's Drug Store, interior, 11th & G streets." In the Rubber Goods section in back you'll find the inevitable "trusses and abdominal belts." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Sport Mart, 1303 F Street N.W." Shorpy would like one of each, please. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Update: For the window-shoppers among us, I've posted a bigger closeup here.

1917. "Langley, Samuel Pierpont. Secretary, Smithsonian Institute. Experimental tandem biplane on Potomac embodying Langley principles." View full size.

1912. "Army aviation, College Park. Tests of Curtiss plane for Army. Single control." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Previously in our living room we saw what it looked like with the family dressed up and posed formally. Here's what real, every-day life was like, captured by my brother in this candid, available light shot on 35mm Kodak Tri-X on April 21, 1955. Newspapers strewn around on the floor; my mother in her ubiquitous apron with her hair up in curlers; Father with his slippers kicked off, looking up from his paper (looks like our local Marin County daily, the San Rafael Independent-Journal) across the room at the TV. What that giant pile of stuff is next to my mother I haven't been able to figure out; some big, fabric-related project of hers perhaps. Where am I? My guess: behind my brother, on the floor, eyes glued to the TV. View full size.