"Michigan Avenue, Chicago, July 1941." And just a block ago, they were strangers. 35mm negative by John Vachon, who has a lens for the ladies. View full size.

May 1936. "Sheep ranch in Converse County, Wyoming." Medium-format neg by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

My father, in his comfy leather chair, and our houseguest Bob have their eyes glued to the TV, almost undoubtedly watching the news. We don't know what that news was or its import, but a headline in the San Francisco Examiner reflects an epochal moment: "7 Men Ready for First Space Flight." Three months later Alan Shepard was the one of those Project Mercury astronauts to do it. This 127 Ektachrome transparency has a processing date of February 1961 on the mount.

Bob, a Cal Poly classmate of my brother's, lived with us for a bit while apartment-hunting. Father's clip-on bow tie is actually part of his Jolly Store grocery clerk outfit, indicating he probably just got home, pausing just long enough to slip into his slippers. We also continue the saga of Mother's window treatment, with different-but-similar drapes and curtains. Her love/hate relationship with African violets appears to be in the hate phase at the moment as there are none to be seen. I was standing on the stairway landing, thus the high angle. Man, that leather chair was comfy. View full size.

August 13, 1957. "Hotel Zeiger. Ellenville, New York. General lobby." Join us in the Jubilee Room for cocktails and dancing! That stair rail looks like it was filched off a pool table. Large format negative by Samuel H. Gottscho. View full size.

July 1939. "Theatre on 9th Street. Washington, D.C." Seventeen years after our previous visit. Large format nitrate negative by David Myers. View full size.

March 1943. "Rochester, New York. Mrs. Babcock, Shirley and Earl greeting Mr. Babcock in front of the house." The nucleus of this nuclear family, orbited by his little electron. Large format negative by Ralph Amdursky. View full size.

Circa 1900. "Charleston, S.C., from St. Michael's Church." St. Philip's Church at right. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.