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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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Detective Shanley: 1937
Submitted by Ken on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 6:55am.
New York City detective Mary Agnes Shanley pulls a pistol out of her handbag. Shanley shows what awaits a pickpocket. She had more than a thousand career arrests. From the New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, 1937. View full size.
Pistol Packin Mama
Submitted by wonko on Wed, 12/31/2008 - 9:26pm.
This picture is perfectly indicative of why I love Shorpy so much.
Mary Shanley
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Thu, 06/26/2008 - 1:46am.
Found this picture of a newspaper page with this photo
http://popartmachine.com/item/pop_art/LOC+1166351
that shows the picture flipped the other way (right-handed)... but the site also shows the Shorpy "lefty" picture.
Flipped?
Submitted by Lynn on Thu, 01/03/2008 - 12:29am.
I tried zooming in on the revolver. IF I am seeing what I think I am seeing (the cylinder release latch), then I would say the the picture wasn't "flopped" since most US revolvers have the cylinder latch on the left side of the frame.
Love the site. Great work.
And quite deliberately so
Submitted by Charlene on Wed, 01/02/2008 - 11:07pm.
Often criminals seek out female victims who they believe to be less attractive. They assume that bystanders will be less likely to respond to calls for help from a less attractive woman. In the case of a sexual attack, they often suspect that an unattractive woman will be written off as hysterical, stupid, or lying.
Flipped?
Submitted by Tracy on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 6:08pm.
Are you sure about that, Dave? Women's clothes button right-over-left, and men's clothes button left-over-right. Her dress buttons left-over-right... either it was homemade and someone made a mistake, or the image has been flipped.
[This image is identical in orientation to the 60-year-old print it was scanned from, which has writing in the upper right corner. The negative may have been flipped (or, in newsphoto parlance, "flopped") before the print was made to have the subject facing in the desired direction for the layout of the newspaper page this picture appeared on. - Dave]
Southpaw?
Submitted by madelaine on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 12:27pm.
is she really a lefty or is the negative flipped?
[Not flipped. - Dave]
Reminds me...
Submitted by intothewind on Fri, 08/03/2007 - 5:15pm.
of the old song "Pistol packing mama" (lay that pistol down). It was a big hit back when...
If I'd meet someone like
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 8:46am.
If I'd meet someone like that today, I'd have two things to say:
"Get yer finger out of that trigger guard"
&
"Don't carry in a purse that can be forgotten or snatched".
Ok, *three* things to say.
"you rock, shooterchickie"
the notorious Chinatown Charlie
Submitted by Ron on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 6:56am.
She had 1000 career arrests including "Chinatown Charlie"
I dont know who he is but he sounds like a tough guy, good work Mary
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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