From a series titled "Experimental housing models. Storage shed & garage, dining room & kitchen." Circa 1945-48, of the "Your Future Postwar Home" genre. Kodachrome transparency by Eric Schaal, Life photo archive. View full size.

Another of the many swimming pools photographed by Frank Scherschel circa 1960. Throw in a tiki or two and we have all the makings of a Josh Agle painting. Anscochrome transparency, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

South Carolina, 1956. Another entry from Margaret Bourke-White's photoessay on segregation and civil rights in South. Will someone pass the salt? Color transparency from the Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

June 6, 1950. "Vis-O-Matic department store." A Vis-O-Matic spokesmodel, or perhaps even the queen of Vis-O-Matic, the Canadian catalog store whose slide-projection system of displaying merchandise was like a Buck Rogers premonition of online shopping. The Vis-O-Matic phenomenon seems to have been short-lived, with hardly any documentation online aside from these photos in the Life archive, and no word of its fate. Photo by Bernard Hoffman. View full size.

June 6, 1950. "Vis-O-Matic department store," a premonition of virtual retailing. One of at least 200 photographs taken by Bernard Hoffman at retail magnate Laurence Freiman's newfangled catalog store in Pembroke, Ontario. The cards were an index of merchandise on color slides viewed by customers on rear-projection screens. Life magazine image archive. View full size.

South Carolina, 1956. More from this series of pictures on life in the South. Color transparency by Margaret Bourke-White, Life magazine archive. View full size.

More from the South Carolina roadhouse. So far I've found five pictures of these two mixing it up, either wrestling or dancing. The captions don't say anything about what's going on, but the girl seems delighted. Color transparency by Margaret Bourke-White, Life magazine image archive. View full size.

1956. "Segregation in South Carolina. Separate and unequal recreation facilities." I've looked at hundreds of photos from this assignment and would have to agree -- the white folks in general seem to be having a lot less fun in their hopelessly boring bars, uptight country clubs and over-chlorinated swimming pools. Eventually they got wise. Color transparency by Margaret Bourke-White. View full size.

June 6, 1950. Pembroke, Ontario. "Vis-O-Matic department store." A variation on mail-order shopping, the Vis-O-Matic system used color slides to display merchandise to potential customers, with orders placed by Teletype and delivered to your door. Photo by Bernard Hoffman, Life image archive. View full size.

Winnetka, Illinois. June 1950. "Student Rue Lawrence wearing frilly summer dress and bright lipstick in classroom at New Trier High School." Rue was on the cover of the October 16, 1950, issue of Life. Color transparency by Alfred Eisenstaedt, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

July 1956. Greenville, North Carolina. "Segregationist tobacco sharecropper Marshall Joyner and family bowing heads in prayer before dinner." Color transparency by Margaret Bourke-White, Life photo archive. View full size.

Circa 1959. "Swimming pool." Not just any swimming pool, but an Esther Williams prefab above-ground swimming pool. I wonder if any of these survive. Color transparency by Frank Scherschel, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

1964. The Super Giant supermarket in Rockville, Maryland. Color transparency by John Dominis, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

Bowling alley circa 1956. Next door: Fine dining at the Thruway Restaurant. Color transparency by Dmitri Kessel, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.

Somewhere in suburbia circa 1960. Probably South Florida. Anscochrome transparency by Frank Scherschel, Life magazine photo archive. View full size.