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:
The Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit, seen earlier today around 1907 in this post. Now it's circa 1910-1915 and it has a few extra floors trimmed Second Empire style to look like a giant mansard roof. Not too many years later it was torn down to make way for a bank. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.
"Bomber factory. No caption for this image." 1943 or 1944. So, what are they and where is Shop 301? Office of War Information safety negative. View full size.
1909. "Mme. Diss-DeBarr," a.k.a. "the noted and notorious Ann O'Delia Dis Debar, of many aliases, a number of husbands and several prison terms," according to a 1909 article in the New York Times. The headline calls her an "ex-priestess of fake spiritualism." 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain. View full size.
1865. "Cold Harbor, Virginia. Unburied dead on the battlefield of Gaines' Mill." Photographs from the main Eastern theater of war, the Peninsular Campaign, May-August 1862. Wet plate glass negative by John Reekie. View full size.
The Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit circa 1907. By the mid-teens the hotel had been topped off with a huge mansard roof that added five floors of guest rooms. Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1927. "Crosstown Auto Supply Co." 1801 14th Street at S Street N.W. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
November 1965. Fabulous, glamorous, glittering, world-famous Hollywood & Vine. My mother, father and brother take in the dazzling sights while I snap off this Kodachrome, two years after my previous memorable visit. Looks like brother and I have been hitting the record shops. Notable vehicles include a shiny red pre-1957 Volkswagen beetle, a 1961 or 1962 Thunderbird, a 1958 Plymouth wagon and, most interesting of all, a City of L.A. Water & Power Studebaker Champ pickup. View full size.
"Recreation Pavilion. Mirman Residence, Arcadia, California, 1959. Architects: Buff, Straub & Hensman." Color transparency by Julius Shulman. View full size. I see the potential here for limitless, free-spirited fun. (Please do not move cushions more than one-quarter inch from designated positions on the Recreation Pavilion Fun Grid. The Herman Miller benches will not be moved more than 21 bricks away from decking. Tennis racquets allowed on pillows only if propped at an appropriately informal angle, 35 degrees to the horizontal. Thank you.)