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:
February 1939. "Bench of potted plants at side of home of Mexican day laborer. Near Santa Maria, Texas." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
May 1939. Peoria, Illinois. "Prostitutes 'roping' at window." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
March 1940. "Snow shed over Union Pacific tracks. Carbon County, Wyoming." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Circa 1920. "Bimini, Bahamas. Fish dock with day's catch." 4x12 inch panoramic nitrate negative by Albert M. Price. View full size.
April 28, 1909. "Launching party, freighter Benjamin Noble, Wyandotte, Michigan." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Top-heavy with a cargo of steel rails, the Benjamin Noble capsized in a squall 20 miles out from Duluth on April 14, 1914, vanishing into Lake Superior with the loss of all hands. After 90 years as a "ghost ship," its wreck was discovered at a depth of 400 feet off Knife Island in 2004, the front half buried in 40 feet of mud -- "heavily overloaded, just a submarine waiting to happen."
Fredericksburg, Virginia, circa 1928. "John Paul Jones House, Main Street." 8x10 inch acetate negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
Alameda County, California, 1959. "29th Annual Newark Fireman's Ball." At center, fireman Ed Brazil. 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size.
New York, 1949. Broadway in neon and Kodachrome, courtesy of Shorpy member RalphCS. Where we're waiting to get Phil Spitalny's autograph. View full size.