Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
Vintage photos of:
Washington, D.C. "Penn Oil and truck." A relic of the Carboniferous Age circa 1920. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
"Holmes Bakery, Ford truck, 1923." Another cog in the Holmes pastry-delivery machine. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.
August 15, 1955. My ninth birthday. In answer to my request, we had turkey with all the trimmings. I'm pretending to carve. The camera this was taken with was probably a birthday present, thereby starting me on my road to photographic immortality. Poetic justice that the shot's out of focus. Gobble gobble.
District of Columbia, 1919. Willard Service Station, Washington Battery Co., 1623 L Street. The sign: "We respectfully request customers to refrain from talking to workmen. Any information desired will be cheerfully given out by floor superintendent." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Washington circa 1920. "Penn Oil Co., Massachusetts Avenue & Wisconsin Avenue station." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Hudson, stolen car." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress.
1928 or 1929. Production workers at the huge Atwater Kent radio factory in Philadelphia. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.