A young woman models, wearing a cowgirl outfit and holding a rope. Photo by Fitz W. Guerin, c. 1902. View full size.

"A Circus Girl." 1908 photograph by Frederick W. Glasier of Brockton, Massachusetts. View full size.

"Mack Sennett girls in costume" circa 1919. Sennett, an early producer of silent films, was known as the King of Comedy for his slapstick reels. View full size. National Photo Company Collection.

July 19, 1923. Washington, D.C. "Sunshine Girls at beach." The London dance troupe originated by the British musical-theater impresario John Tiller. View full size.

From 1902, another of Fitz Guerin's metaphorical maidens.View full size.

July 17, 1908. Actors field day benefit for the New York Home for Destitute Crippled Children. Lillian Lee at the Polo Grounds "as first base." View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

Louise Cromwell poses in fox furs, c. 1911. This is likely the wealthy heiress who married General Douglas MacArthur on February 14, 1922. View full size.

Mack Sennett's bathing beauties in serpentine confetti, April 24, 1918. View full size.

An obviously posed photo of a woman gambler brandishing her weapon. Celebrity Art Co., Boston, c. 1912. View full size.

Marvel Rea (left), Ford Sterling and Alice Maison in a publicity photo for Mack Sennett Comedies, c. 1919. View full size.

Actress Edith Roberts poses for a publicity shot for Mack Sennett Productions. Roberts got her start as a child actor on the vaudeville circuit. Later she starred in a number of silent films. Her filmography lists 154 titles. View full size.

"Miss Powell and Miss Sands" circa 1910. View full size. G.G. Bain Collection.

Eighteen-year-old Ruth Malcomson, Miss Philadelphia of 1924. Later that year in Atlantic City, she would be crowned Miss America. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, Atlantic Foto Service/George Grantham Bain Collection.

"Noontime rest for a full-fledged assembly worker at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company." October 1942. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

A model floating in the water at Weeki Wachee Spring, Florida. This image, by fashion photographer Toni Frissell, was published in Harper's Bazaar in December 1947. Mug | Weeki Wachee Mermaids | View full size.