4000+ fine-art prints suitable for framing. Desk-size to sofa-size and larger, on archival paper or canvas.
The Shorpy Gallery
Join and Share
Social Shorpy
To love him is to like him. Our goal: 100k "likes":
Recent comments
- Role reversal
- Hot metal to cold type
- Had them at Lane Tech in 1980
- Re: etaoin shrdlu
- I had to learn to use one of these
- The Gnarly Cottonwood
- A vanished brand
- The extra doors
- What impressive machines
- Over the shoulder horn.
- The Wild West
- Lemonolyuf
- Fill the pointy thing with sand
- Hugh Hefner
- An otherworldly appearance
- Read any magazines?
- Sweater Girl
- Party of six
- Interesting Comment
- She Gives
- Missing?
- Hefty
- High School Confidential
- Fast forward 50 years
- Dutch Oven
- The Spitoon
- etaoin shrdlu
- Is that all?
- A Hallowed Mess (Hall)
- Lead mule for the yearbook
Member Photos
Photos submitted by Shorpy members.
Colorized Photos
Colorized photos submitted by members.
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.
Image Galleries
Search Shorpy
American Beauty: 1942
Submitted by Dave on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 5:16am.
September 1942. "New York, New York. Getting a manicure while drying hair at Francois de Paris, a hairdresser on West Eighth Street." Medium format nitrate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Eeww
Submitted by noelani on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 3:16am.
If there's one thing I do NOT miss from my childhood, it's having dirty ash trays everywhere!
Tight Lipped
Submitted by Jano on Tue, 05/15/2012 - 11:39pm.
If loose lips sink ships then tight lips keep the boats afloat. In truth, I wonder how much could be gleaned from the idle chatter of war time plant workers.
What came first?
Submitted by Cuneo on Tue, 05/15/2012 - 3:07pm.
The beehive hairdo or this style of hair dryer?
Smoke Break
Submitted by scoobylou on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 9:44pm.
Back when smoking was part of the beauty regimen.
Purpose of this photo
Submitted by auntjess on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 12:38pm.
Was the Office of War Information trying to show that life was going on as usual, or were they chiding people who used resources (chemicals?) need for the war effort, for frivolous purposes.
[This was documentary photography. -Dave]
Cue Rosalind Russell:
Submitted by LadyCelia on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 10:54am.
A wonderful new manicurist, Olga's her name, she's marvellous. Isn't that divine? Jungle red!
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.
RSS | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Photo Use | © 2013 Shorpy Inc.
Today's Top 5