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Vintage photos of:
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]
New York, 1942. Kathryn Crum, the wife of bandleader Eddie South, in the dental chair. Another of Albert Fenn's uncaptioned photos from the OWI archive. Now, Mrs. South, if you'll just open a little wider, this won't hurt a bit. View full size.
1864. "Point of Rocks, Virginia (vicinity). Redoubt 'Zabriskie' on Appomattox River." Civil War glass negative collection, Library of Congress. View full size.
The architectural ubermensch of Miami Beach, best remembered for the Fontainebleau Hotel.
Dec. 13, 1946. "Morris Lapidus, 256 E. 49th Street, New York. Lapidus in his office." Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.
This Second Empire edifice opened in April 1878 as the Working-Women's Hotel, only to close eight weeks later due to an acute case of insolvency. Reopened as the Park Avenue Hotel, the cast-iron marvel at 34th Street lasted until 1924, when it was replaced by an office tower.
New York Circa 1905. "Park Avenue Hotel, Fourth Avenue entrance." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Click here for a view of the arch from the depot.
Denver, Colorado, circa 1908. "Welcome arch and Union Depot." Where blurry pedestrians risk the retoucher's brush. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
June 1943. Arlington County, Va. "Arlington Farms, war duration residence halls. A room at Idaho Hall." Sunny yet noirish photo by Esther Bubley. View full size.
Washington, D.C., 1920. "Lust baby show." Which is probably not what it sounds like -- a baby contest at Poli's theater organized by cinema impresario Sidney Lust would be our guess. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Circa 1911, our third selection from the panoramic series "Washington from Washington Monument." Landmarks include, from left, Memorial Continental Hall (headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution); the Corcoran Gallery of Art; State, War and Navy Building; and White House West Wingtip. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
1864. "Point of Rocks, Va. (vicinity). Redoubt Zabriskie on Appomattox River." Wet plate negative, Library of Congress Civil War Collection. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1928. "Library for Blind, B Street S.E." Another of those photos where the points of greatest interest are at the periphery -- the Sanitary Barber ("Ladies Hair Bobbing a Specialty") at left, and Hall-Kerr Motors, a Hudson dealer, on the right. National Photo glass negative. View full size.
February 1943. Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico. "George Mutz's youngest daughter helping with the cooking." Not quite the Miracle Kitchen, but it'll do. Photo by John Collier, Office of War Information. View full size.
"The Planning Center -- this is the heart and the brain of the RCA-Whirlpool Miracle Kitchen. For example, there's a button that turns on a built-in color television set that brings entertainment into your Miracle Kitchen of the future. Other buttons select recipes, request an inventory of food stock, select food from storage, or complete the automatic meal from the Magic Meal Maker."
March 1959. "Home economist Anne Anderson demonstrating appliances and features of RCA-Whirlpool 'Miracle Kitchen of the Future,' a display at the American National Exhibition in Moscow." Kodachrome by Bob Lerner for the Look magazine article "What the Russians Will See." View full size.
July 1942. "U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. Rowing crew." The fourth installment of our Manly Midshipmen of Annapolis calendar, photographed by one Lieutenant Whitman for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Montgomery, Alabama, circa 1906. "Commerce Street from Court Square." Whose designer would probably be none too pleased with the telephone poles and wires sprouting from his fountain. Our second look at this bustling hub. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
New Zealand circa 1950s. "Model with wringer washing machine." I am Woman, see me Wash. Photo by Gordon Burt Studio. View full size.