Washington, D.C, 1921. "Scripps-Booth Sales Co., 14th Street N.W." And one very shiny sedan. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Universal Auto Co., interior." Our second look at this Ford dealership at 1529 M Street. National Photo Co. View full size.

Circa 1916. "New York Post Office, main corridor." Snapshot from the Golden Age of Mail. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Universal Auto Co., interior." The parts of old, beset by mold. National Photo Co. Collection glass negative. View full size.

Detroit circa 1912. "Griswold Street from Capitol Park." Home of the Miles Theater and "Advanced Vaudeville" -- you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll need a slide rule and a thesaurus. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size.

New York noir circa 1913. "The Woolworth Building at night." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a "new" image for anyone alive today -- a muddy-looking print of it has been available for years in the Library of Congress archive, but it wasn't until last year that the glass negative was imaged and put online. As far as I know this is its Interwebs debut, apart from the LOC website. We did a lot of work to adjust the contrast and get it cleaned up.

Circa 1905. "Tommy Atkins." The name being a sort of generic, John-Doe-type moniker for a British soldier. (Yes, I had to look it up in Wikipedia.) 8x10 inch silver gelatin glass transparency, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.