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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]
Southern California circa 1956. One of a dozen Kodachrome slides that I recently found on eBay. If the clothes here were any sharper we'd need to call 911. No T- shirts and jeans for these folks. More to come over the weekend. View full size.
Pittsburgh circa 1914. "Liberty Avenue and skyscrapers." The Steel City grows up and up. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
October 1938. Crowley, Louisiana. "Children in buggy at National Rice Festival." 35mm negative by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
April 1864. "Brandy Station, Virginia. Major William Riddle and friends. Headquarters, Army of the Potomac." Wet plate negative by Timothy H. O'Sullivan. Civil War glass plate collection, Library of Congress. View full size.
Washington, D.C., circa 1908 "F Street, looking toward Treasury." Note the sign on the Lincoln Park streetcar advertising the "hydraulic dive" at Glen Echo. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
July 1940. "Auto of migrant fruit worker at gas station in Sturgeon Bay, Wisc." Photo by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Montgomery County, Maryland, circa 1928. "Glen Echo Park." Another look at this old-school attraction in the Washington suburbs. View full size.
November 1938. "Man chewing piece of snake which he has just bitten off. State fair sideshow in Donaldsonville, Louisiana." 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
November 1937. "School at Greenbelt, Maryland." Notable for being an early planned community, one of three "Green-" towns midwifed by the Depression-era Resettlement Administration. 35mm negative by John Vachon. View full size.
January 22, 1921. Washington, D.C. "Paul E. Garber (Smithsonian museum)." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Saratoga Springs, New York, circa 1904. "Union Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Uncaptioned photo from a batch of 35mm negatives taken by John Vachon in the fall of 1937 in Annapolis, Maryland, and Newport News, Virginia. The car, a Cord convertible, would be worth around a zillion bucks today. View full size.
December 1941. Akron, Ohio. "Manufacture of self-sealing gas tanks, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co." A patriotic ensemble of red, white and blue. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer, Office of War Information. View full size.
Detroit circa 1919. "View of Woodward Avenue and Washington Boulevard; Whitney Building and Grand Circus Park." Also one of the "Winged Victory" statues seen earlier here. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size.
Jacksonville, Florida (vicinity), circa 1905. The unfortunate title for this one in the Detroit Publishing catalog: "A Darky Homestead." Note the birdhouse on the dormer. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.