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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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VINTAGRAPH • POSTERS • AMAZING • FLY BRITISH ACROSS THE GLOBE

Active Imaginations

Active Imaginations

Here is a picture of younger brother George, and I, playing with our "shared" American Flyer c.1958. The "steam" locomotive and tender cannot be seen, but on the floor you may spot several familiar items: signal bridge, telephone pole, water tower, small trackside tool shed. There are two windmills made of tinker toys, too. We had a cow that would block the track and quickly move out of the way when the train approached. Also in the room, with fanciful wallpaper, note the steam radiator, the peg desk and the record player. Burl Ives' "Bimbo" is probably playing. What imagination! What fun!

Kodachrome slide taken in Clinton, Iowa, c.1958. View full size.

Still useful

My kids have that peg desk (with a chalkboard lid). A number of desired Lego kits are currently listed on it.

I don't think they've ever seen an actual steam radiator.

 
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.

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