December 1919. "Christmas tree at the District Jail, Washington, D.C., and some of the prisoners." National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "H.I. Scharr Electric Co., front." Harry Scharr started out with a store at 711 13th Street N.W., then added a location at 739 11th Street. In 1927 he filed for bankruptcy. National Photo Co. View full size.

"Game of craps. Cincinnati, Ohio. August 1908." Back in the good old days when kids made their own low-tech fun. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

Washington circa 1928. "Christmas tree. No caption information, title devised by library staff." Click here for a closeup of the train set, which has a duck pond and a birdbath. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington circa 1922. "349 22nd Street." National Photo. View full size.

December 1961. Maybe people who lived in the Hollywood Hills or in the pages of Sunset Magazine dwelt in high-concept Case Study homes, but regular young marrieds of this period were more likely to have furnished their abodes from the Early American section of the Montgomery Ward catalog. Here is a classic example of its kind, down to the ubiquitous braided rugs.

My nephew Jimmy, on the right, is visiting his cousin Bobby, and apparently I came along to record the event on this 127 Ektachrome. Jimmy is pulling the talk string on his Casper the Friendly Ghost, one of about a billion times he did it that year. "I'm co-o-o-o-ld." After 47 years that sound still echoes in my brain. Bobby's got himself a Mr. Machine, who didn't talk, but the TV commercial jingle still resonates. "Here he comes, here he comes, greatest toy you've ever seen, and his name is Mr. Machine!" I know that because at the age of 15 I was still watching cartoons on TV every day. In addition to the incredibly cool army truck, somebody has gotten a "Super Sonic Jetliner," whose wings were cleverly designed to deliberately detach. Someone else, presumably, has gotten the gift box of Kools up there on the end table. View full size.

October 1908. Fairmont, West Virginia. "These boys (and one other small one) and their father work in Monongah Glass Works. Father gets $1.75 a day, one boy $1.25 a day, four get 80 cents. Total $6.20 a day. Live in a tumble-down house. What is the trouble?" Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.