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.

Washington, D.C., 1919. "Post Office a la cart." Deck the truck with boughs of holly! National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
The post office truck has what appears to be a standard 1919 District of Columbia license plate rather than a US Government plate. Anyone know when the federal government started issuing its own license plates rather than registering its vehicles with the states or DC?
"The large 400 North Capitol Plaza office complex, still standing today, was subsequently constructed on the sites of the Dodge Hotel and the Hotel Continental, which had occupied the adjacent lot on North Capitol Street and was also torn down in 1972."
Today's Top 5