March 1943. Summit, California. "Brakeman opening the retainer valve on a car on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad between Barstow and San Bernardino. From here to San Bernardino is one long downgrade of more than 2,700 feet." Photo by Jack Delano, Office of War Information. View full size.

September 1913. Denison, Texas. "Group outside Pittman Handle Factory. A 15-year-old boy operating a dangerous boring machine at which he said a boy recently bored half his hand off. To operate this machine (which bores a large hole in the spade handle) the boy has to throw his whole weight onto the lever which pushes the handle (and himself) up against the unprotected borer. A slip might easily result fatally. Boy earns $1.65 a day. This factory has a number of unprotected belts and dangerous machines. One other boy, about the age of this one, was doing all kinds of work, taking away the handles from a huge rip saw, etc., and constantly exposed to danger." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

"Elks parade in Baltimore, 1916." The message on those paddle fans: "Bromo-Seltzer." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

St. Augustine, Florida, circa 1890. "On the roof of the Ponce de Leon Hotel." Then back down to the room, and into our T's and Victorian flip-flops. Dry plate glass negative by William Henry Jackson. Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1916. "Hotel Pontchartrain and Cadillac Square from City Hall." Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size. Earlier views of the hotel: Circa 1907, minus the upper floors, and 1910, minus most of the cars.

Très excitement. Ken informs me that Shorpy is No. 66 on PC Magazine's list of the Top 100 Websites of 2009! (Yes, this is the kind of fluff incisive reportage magazines run in the summer so the staff can go on vacation, and we're happy to take part.) I want to thank tterrace, Stanton Square, Joe Manning and everyone else who has helped put us, if not on top, at least solidly in the top part of the bottom third! [UPDATE: Even though we are the 66th website on the list, Kyle at PC Mag tells us the results are not a numerical ranking but rather the results of voting on two groups: Top 50 "classic" sites and Top 50 "undiscovered."]

Florida circa 1891. "Cordova Hotel, St. Augustine." 8x10 dry-plate glass negative by William Henry Jackson. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Mexico circa 1891. "Ferrocarill Central Mexicano. Canal of Nochistongo," a drainage excavated in the 17th and 18th centuries to keep Mexico City from flooding. Note the giant camera and tripod employed by William Henry Jackson in the making of his heroically proportioned photographs, the largest of which were recorded on a medium the archivists call "mammoth plates" -- glass negatives that measured 18 by 22 inches. (This particular image was made on an 8x10 inch glass plate -- what modern photographers would consider "large format," but still only a fifth the size of an 18x22.) Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size.

Jalisco, Mexico, circa 1891. "Bridge near Encarnacion. Ferrocarril Central Mexicano." Glass negative by William Henry Jackson. View full size.

Circa 1889. "Bathing pool in the Casino. (Probably the Ponce de Leon Hotel, St. Augustine, Florida.)" UPDATE: This was actually the nearby Hotel Alcazar (thanks to Amphalon). Photograph by William Henry Jackson. View full size.

Circa 1915. "Custom House tower, Boston, Massachusetts." Note the wireless masts next door. Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size.

Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Tremont Street Bldg., looking south from Keith's Theatre." Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size.

March 4, 1901. "President William McKinley second inaugural parade, Pennsylvania Avenue." Brady-Handy Collection glass negative. View full size.

September 1916. "U.S.S. Memphis sick brought home by hospital ship Solace." Soldiers and sailors on the government tug Tecumseh at Washington Navy Yard, about a week after the Navy cruiser Memphis was wrecked by a tidal wave off Santo Domingo. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1910. "Unidentified group from dance or play, #130." Another group of thespians at the H&E portrait studio. View full size.