1920. "Poultry at government farm. Beltsville, Maryland." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

September 7, 1923. "Massachusetts Nautical School." Sailors and shipboard pets. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

December 1936. "Wife of owner-operator and wife of hired hand cleaning chickens in cellar preparatory to canning them. Chickens at this time of year are bringing six cents per pound. These are for roasting. Harry Madsen farm, near Dickens, Iowa. 360 acres, owner operated." Medium format nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

August 1935. Shelling peanuts in Wolf Creek, Georgia. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Nutrition Division, Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture." View full size. National Photo Company.

1926 or 1927. Washington, D.C. "H.E.F. & lamb." Herbert E. French, the proprietor of National Photo. View full size. National Photo Company.

August 27, 1925. Montgomery County, Maryland. "Mrs. Margaret Barnes at the Rockville Fair." View full size. 4x5 glass negative, National Photo Company.

1926. Washington, D.C. Photographing the photographing of giraffes at the National Zoo. View full size. 4x5 glass negative, National Photo Company.

May 1936. "Farmer of Franklin County, Kansas." View full size. Medium format nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.

May 1940. "Young boy and calf at Granger Homesteads, Iowa. His father is a miner." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the FSA. It's interesting to note that the dirt-eating calf seems to have a collar.

Buying the Thanksgiving turkey circa 1910. Plucking required. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

1914. Dr. Charles Campbell and a "municipal bat-roost" in San Antonio, Texas ("for one of man's best friends"), his idea for mosquito control at a time when malaria was a major public health problem in the U.S. Disguised as a favorite bat habitat — a church steeple, complete with cross — the roost was fitted with a trapdoor and stilts to facilitate the harvesting of guano by the wagonload for use as fertilizer. 5x7 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.

Rat meets rat catcher in New York circa 1920. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

Robert Ellen pulling the tooth of baby elephant "Futz" in 1924. View full size. 4x5 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection.

Bill Snyder and Hattie at the Central Park elephant house in 1922. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.