Sept. 15, 1900. Wyandotte, Michigan. "Freighter Howard L. Shaw in the slip." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Los Angeles, 1948. "Actor Lex Barker and his family -- wife Constance Rhodes Thurlow, son Alexander Crichlow Barker III, and daughter Lynn Thurlow Barker with their dog and cat." From photos by Maurice Terrell for the Look magazine assignment "Princeton-Bred Tarzan." View full size.

San Francisco's Golden Gate Park circa 1939. "Woman demonstrating use of luggage compartment lock on Pontiac sedan." Also a nice bumper-selfie of the photographer. 8x10 Eastman Kodak acetate negative. View full size.

    "Uncle Sam's new bank system -- Postal Savings for Boy Scouts."

Washington, D.C., circa 1913. "Boy Scouts -- Postal Savings. Scouts depositing." Revisiting an activity last observed here six years ago. View full size.

Larkspur, California, January 7, 1953. A photo of me I didn't know existed until a few days ago. I'm the second cowboy hat from the left at my best friend's 6th birthday party; I'd turned 6 the previous August. It's one of the rare childhood events that I've always carried a memory of; specifically: I insisted on leaving the party early so I could get home in time to watch "Time for Beany" on TV. My brother - whose hat that had been - came over and walked me home. My other classmates are the kid with the giant glasses on his head and the cowgirl behind the wide-eyed boy at right; I met up with her at our high school Class of '64 50th reunion last September. Others are mostly relatives, including June Cleaver his aunt setting up pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. I gotta say, for a kid with a birthday so close to Christmas, it looks like my friend made out like a bandit.

Many thanks to his sister, the little girl at my side, for getting this negative to me to scan. View full size.

New York, 1951. "Street scene, Corn Exchange Bank." Sharing the spotlight with two Sanitation Department trucks. 4x5 negative by John M. Fox. View full size.

New Orleans circa 1903. "Cotton on the Mississippi River levee." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.