Shorpy is a year old today! Thanks to the many thousands of visitors and commenters and contributors who have helped make this Web site the remarkable place that it is. And of course we wouldn't be here without the efforts of the photographers whose pictures appear here, and the conservators and archivists who have preserved their work and made it available online through the Library of Congress. This might also be a good time to reflect on the life of our namesake, Shorpy Higginbotham, whose likeness animates these pages and spirit inhabits them. And now on with the show. Only a zillion more pictures to go   .  .  .

May 1943. Bensenville, Illinois. Section crew of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad taking up track. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

January 1943. "Indiana Harbor Belt R.R. switchman demonstrating signal with a fusee, used at twilight and dawn when visibility is poor. This signal means stop." Calumet City, Ill. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.

1937. Salvaging coal from the slag heap at Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania. Coal pickers get 10 cents for each hundred-pound sack or two dollars a ton. One man can make from 10 to 20 sacks a day. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Ben Shahn.

Washington, D.C, 1921. "J.E. Wright, Gallaudet Class of 1921." View full size. 4x5 glass negative, National Photo Company Collection.

1944. Fulton Fish Market, New York. "Orders being loaded at Teddy's." Photo by Al Aumuller. New York World-Telegram and Sun Collection. View full size.

May 9, 1910. St. Louis, Mo. "Newsboy. Little Fattie. Less than 40 inches high, 6 years old. Been at it one year." View full size. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.