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.) Most 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.
Shorpy is an online archive of thousands of high-resolution photos from the 1850s to 1950s. Our namesake, Shorpy Higginbotham, was a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
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June 16, 1937. "Walk 800 miles to attend Boy Scout Jamboree. Two Venezuelan Boy Scouts, Rafael Angel Petit, left, and Juan Carmona, examining their boots after tramping 25 miles a day for two years in order to attend the Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington. They left Caracas Jan. 11, 1935, arriving in Washington today." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

September 1940. "Customers entering Tri-County Farmers Co-op Market in Du Bois, Pennsylvania." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano. View full size.

"Row houses, Baltimore, June 1940." Medium format safety negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Kitchen of Ernest G. Walker," newspaperman and real-estate developer. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "S.B. Johnston, dentist, interior." Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size.

September 15, 1937. "First of fair sex to obtain motorcycle license in Capital. Although she weighs only 88 pounds -- one-third of the machine she rides, Mrs. Sally Halterman is the first woman to be granted a license to operate a motorcycle in the District of Columbia. She is 27 years old and 4 feet, 11 inches tall. Immediately after receiving her permit, Mrs. Halterman was initiated into the D.C. Motorcycle Club -- the only girl ever to be accorded this honor." View full size.

January 1941. "Foggy night in New Bedford, Massachusetts." Medium-format safety negative by Jack Delano. Office of War Information. View full size.