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.

April 1923. Washington, D.C. Another unlabeled Harris & Ewing plate, showing someone we imagine to be the bureaucrat tasked with kindling fire-prevention slogans. Say, does it seem a little smokey in here? View full size.
Willy B has a perfect nose for holding an eyeglass frame in place.
I grew up in the Washington area hearing Smokey Bear (no "the" in his name) warn me about forest fires in the bass voice of radio announcer Jackson Weaver. And I would visit Smokey every time I went to the National Zoo. A singed bear cub from a fire in the Lincoln National Forest in NM in 1950 became the living representative of Smokey.
For years I thought this bear cub was the inspiration for Smokey Bear but since learned the character was introduced in 1942, about 22 years after this photo was taken.
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