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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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Today's Top 5
Third Avenue El: 1942
Submitted by Dave on Sun, 05/19/2013 - 5:21pm.
September 1942. "New York. Looking north from the Ninth Street station on the Third Avenue elevated railway as a train leaves on the local track." Medium format negative by Marjory Collins, Office of War Information. View full size.
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- 7 comments
- 3984 reads
Droll Soldiers: 1860s
Submitted by Dave on Sun, 05/19/2013 - 2:28pm.
More Civil War cutups. "Unidentified men in Union uniforms, one pointing a revolver at another's head." Half-plate tintype, hand-colored. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Library of Congress. View full size.
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- 23 comments
- 6065 reads
Modern Kitchen: 1940
Submitted by Dave on Sat, 05/18/2013 - 9:06pm.
April 17, 1940. When enameled steel was sexy. "Electric Institute of Washington. Display of ranges in lobby at Potomac Electric Power Co. building." 8x10 acetate negative by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
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- 21 comments
- 7156 reads
Second-Hand Smokers: 1860s
Submitted by Dave on Sat, 05/18/2013 - 4:18pm.
Guys gone wild, 1860s style. "Unidentified soldiers in Union uniforms holding cigars in each other's mouths." Ninth-plate tintype, hand-colored. Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs, Library of Congress. View full size.
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- 1 comment
- 5056 reads
Space Cadets: 1952
Submitted by Dave on Sat, 05/18/2013 - 1:55pm.
From 1952 comes this conflation of two popular genres in the children's TV show "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet." Photo by Charlotte Brooks for the Look magazine assignment "Cowboys and Meteors." View full size.
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- 13 comments
- 3674 reads
Brightwood Car Barn: 1943
Submitted by Dave on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 9:52pm.
Washington, D.C., circa 1943. "Potomac Electric Power Co. substations. Brightwood station car barn." Photo by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
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- 2 comments
- 3471 reads
All Nite: 1941
Submitted by Dave on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 1:51pm.
July 1941. "Street scene in Chicago Black Belt." Old-school fixie. 35mm negative by Edwin Rosskam for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
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- 7 comments
- 4125 reads
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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