July 1940. "Near Shawboro, North Carolina. Group of Florida migrants on their way to Cranberry [i.e., Cranbury], New Jersey, to pick potatoes." Medium-format safety negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

Washington, D.C. "Madeira School group." The Class of 1912 had that Gibson Girl thang goin' on. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

May 11, 1925. "William H. Egberts of National Museum with Siamese musician." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

September 11, 1933. "New York City views. Looking north from the Empire State Building." 5x7 safety negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

January 25, 1926. "William H. Egberts of National Museum and Kenneth Baker (Cliff House group)." National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

March 27, 1926. "William H. Egberts examining trepanned skulls in the anthropology laboratory at the National Museum. The crude method of trephining with the sharpened edge of a stone practiced by peoples living in Peru some 500 or 600 years ago is revealed." National Photo Co. View full size.

August 1864. "Petersburg, Virginia. Company A, U.S. Engineer Battalion." Photos from the main Eastern theater of war, the siege of Petersburg, June 1864-April 1865. Wet plate glass negative, photographer unknown. Full size 1 | Full size 2.

Circa 1920. "Herald, Seventh and H streets N.E." Continuing our culinary tour of the nation's capital, we present the New Olive Cafe, next door to H. Bennett, Barber, and Blechman's Fashion Shop. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1924. "Cathedral Mansions, bakery," 3000 Connecticut Avenue. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

August 1936. "Scenes at the auto trailer camp. Dennis Port, Mass." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

In 1959, my engineer father was, as his expression shows, not happy that a part to my brother's new magic set was not working by late Christmas morning. This was my second picture with the Argus C-Twenty camera I received that day so long ago. For $29.95, the camera kit came with one 20-exposure roll of Kodachrome daylight, six No. 5 blue flashbulbs, plug-in flash gun, and a slide previewer. My parents spent an extra $4.79 for the top-grain leather case. For some reason, they never discarded the Fall-Winter 1959 Montgomery-Ward catalog in which the camera was featured. The catalog is now in my home. The camera served me well through high school, college and beyond. View full size.

July 10, 1937. Washington, D.C. "Testing cosmetics for the government. Mrs. R. Goodman is shown sitting with Mrs. C.R. West applying dye for the hair. Some dyes contain lead and the poison in the dye may lead to chronic poisoning. The Department of Agriculture is continually on the lookout for false labels and advertising." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

May 1937. "Boy Scout Jamboree. Boy Scouts sightseeing on Capitol Transit buses." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

February 1936. "Street in Bound Brook, New Jersey, showing crowded conditions." Medium-format nitrate negative by Carl Mydans. View full size

March 30, 1937. "Transportation and no parking worries. Nelm Clark, 16-year old Washington, D.C., youngster, solved this problem by combining a lawn mower motor with a set of motorcycle gears to make this unusual midget auto. Costing $60 to build, the contraption weighs only 150 pounds -- the weight is its main feature -- and if you run out of gas you easily push it or tuck it under your arm and walk home." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.