July 1865. "Washington, District of Columbia. Brevetted Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte McLaughlen (seated, second from right) and staff." Wet collodion glass plate negative, photographer unknown. View full size.

"York Theater, night." Washington, D.C., circa 1920. Among the cinematic offerings: Jack Pickford in "In Wrong." National Photo Co. View full size.

March 1936. "Middle class houses of the town. Birmingham, Alabama." Nitrate negative by Walker Evans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1916. There's no caption for this one so we'll have to improvise: "Allegory of Prohibition with cook, goat and ledger-toting old-timer in blackface." National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size.

State Street in Ithaca, N.Y., circa 1901. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

January 1921. Washington, D.C. "Metropolitan Theater crowds for 'Passion.'" The line outside Crandall's Metropolitan on F Street to see Pola Negri in "Passion," aka "Madame DuBarry." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

October 23, 1915. Washington, D.C. "Bedell fire, Seventh & D streets." Bedell Manufacturing made mattresses. Three years after a fire in 1912, R.P. Andrews Paper has vacated its D Street premises, but the block still seems unusually combustible. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.