THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL PHOTO ARCHIVE • FRAMED PRINTS • STOCK IMAGES

June 1934. "Nebraska State Capitol at Lincoln. Transformers." Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

June 1943. "Washington, D.C. Pasting up a telegram at the Western Union telegraph office. Doris and Dorothy Bell send and receive telegrams from the Baltimore circuit." If only Doris had been named Dash. Photo by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size.

January 1943. "New York. Sixteen-year-old boy who is in the naval reserve on Mulberry Street." Along with a trove of telephone graffiti that looks as old as he is. Photo by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.

January 1922. Washington, D.C. "Man in three-wheeled vehicle." Which is, according to the nameplate, a ____G CAR. 4x5 glass negative. View full size.

Wellington, New Zealand. "Woman using a vacuum cleaner in a hallway, photographed early 1930s by Gordon Burt." Sign on the landing: "NOW is the opportunity to be quit of the DRUDGERY of housework." View full size.

June 1942. Washington, D.C. "U.S. Office of Defense Transportation system of port control and its traffic channel control." More antique IBM punch-card equipment. Photo by Albert Freeman for the Office of War Information. View full size.

September 1942. "Washington, D.C. Conversion of the Shoreham Hotel furnace from oil to coal burning system." Crank it, boys, and let's see what this thing'll do. Photo by Howard Liberman for the Office of War Information. View full size.

1925. Washington, D.C. "Broadcasting equipment." Adjusting the "modulator tube filament rheostat." Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.

June 1942. Washington, D.C. "U.S. Office of Defense Transportation system of port control and its traffic channel control." More vintage punch-card equipment. Photo by Albert Freeman for the Office of War Information. View full size.

June 1942. Washington, D.C. "U.S. Office of Defense Transportation system of port control and its traffic channel control." IBM printer connected to a punch card machine. Photo by Albert Freeman, Office of War Information. View full size.

March 19, 1942, in the birthplace of the transistor. "Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. Drafting room. Voorhees, Walker, Foley & Smith, architect." Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

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Washington, D.C., 1920. "National Radio School." Last seen here in an exterior view. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

"Dr. Grace Hopper, director, Systems Research, Remington Rand, half-length portrait, seated, smoking cigarette." The pioneering computer programmer and Navy admiral (1906-1992) is the subject of today's Google Doodle, marking her 107th birthday. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Family group listening to radio." A baseball game, maybe. The original caption label for this one has been lost. View full size.

1966. "To the rescue. Many librarians believe computers are the only means to effectively cope with their bulging bookshelves." New York World-Telegram and Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.