4000+ fine-art prints suitable for framing. Desk-size to sofa-size and larger, on archival paper or canvas.
The Shorpy Gallery
Join and Share
Social Shorpy
To love him is to like him. Our goal: 100k "likes":
Recent comments
- 21 years later and 40 miles north
- Joliet Iron and Steel Works
- A Betsy McCall doll
- FIVE Models for Christmas! Jackpot!
- Wrong priorities
- Wonderful composition!
- Wise guy
- Stenographer
- About Sally
- Babushkas and long coats
- Values
- U.S.S. Forrestal
- Early Atlantic City
- Kool Kermy
- Where It All Began
- Miss Revlon!!!!
- Ten-cent cigar
- Sutter & Kearny
- Bob Lerner
- 25% purer
- Composite Carrier
- Sticking Point
- You Rang My Bell
- My Forrestal
- Sleepy Sunday Gone
- Coastal Artillery
- Lucky Kermy!
- They don't make'm like they used to.
- M1917A1 Helmet
- Asleep at the switch
Member Photos
Photos submitted by Shorpy members.
Colorized Photos
Colorized photos submitted by members.
About the Photos
Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.
Image Galleries
Search Shorpy
Today's Top 5
City Galleries
Vintage photos of:
Sands of Glen Echo: 1943
Submitted by Dave on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:23am.
Tags:
July 1943. Glen Echo, Maryland. "Sun bathers on the sand beach at the swimming pool in the Glen Echo amusement park." In the foreground: The photographer's sisters Claire and Enid Bubley. Photo by Esther Bubley, OWI. View full size.
The white swimming cap.
Submitted by wordsmth on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 12:48pm.
My mom is Claire -- the one closest to the camera with the white swimming cap. I'll ask her whether the third woman, the one with sand on her back, was with them.
And if you happen to run across any Esther Bubley photos of a wedding, please let me know. Esther took photos of my mom's wedding--it was either 1947 or 1948--but never was able to find them, or at least never made any prints (that my mom is aware of). So, the wedding remains photo-less.
[The archive of Esther's 2,100 photos taken for the government is here. - Dave]
Hey, I'm next, darn it
Submitted by Don Struke on Sat, 08/28/2010 - 1:26pm.
Sad to see so many people waiting to use that solitary beach chair. I sure hope the guy with ankle grabbed didn't forget his swim trunks again.
That's my Mom!
Submitted by Don Tepper on Sat, 08/28/2010 - 1:03am.
Wow! Esther Bubley was my aunt, so I've seen a lot of her photos. I have some of hers--that she printed--in my home. And when I was maybe 6 years old, she took a series of me and my sister.
But I'd never seen this one, or any that she'd taken at Glen Echo. Interestingly, another sister--Anita--would move close to Glen Echo (in Bannockburn, just across the road) about 10 years later. Anita died a few years ago, but her husband, Harry, still lives there. And I have some nice memories of Glen Echo from when I was a kid, back around 1960.
Thanks for the memories.
[You're welcome! Which one is your mom? - Dave]
Tan Am
Submitted by slump on Wed, 09/16/2009 - 7:38pm.
"Sandy" is going to have one goofy looking sunburn when the day is done. Rookie mistake.
I'm becoming an Esther Bubley fan
Submitted by alypius on Wed, 09/16/2009 - 10:42am.
This is such an eloquent picture of everyday people. Unobtrusive, not calling attention to itself, just capturing a moment in a way that presents it most beautifully.
I also love the picture of the two kids watching the parade. I'm sure they and their parents treasured this photograph! It's so real, authentic, representative, unposed, and funny, all at the same time.
A lyin in the sand
Submitted by Jim Hopkins on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 7:05pm.
Here we see indisputable proof of the efficacy of the beach towel.
Another Photographic Argument
Submitted by Mal Fuller on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 5:36pm.
For the classic Bikini.
One piece
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 3:36pm.
In the background, I notice that the topless male bathing suit is making its historical appearance. Shudder! (At least in most cases.)
THE 100-YEAR-OLD PHOTO BLOG
Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
RSS | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Photo Use | © 2013 Shorpy Inc.
Today's Top 5