THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL PHOTO ARCHIVE • FRAMED PRINTS • STOCK IMAGES

October 1922. New York. "Kopp" is all it says on this glass negative depicting a pair of kettledrums next to what might be a speaker horn or a mega-microphone. Bain News Service. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Congressional Library power plant." 8x6 inch glass negative, National Photo Company Collection. View full size.

September 1942. "Substitute materials -- something new in apple containers. To replace nail-bound wooden boxes, a fiber carton has been developed." An innovation known today as the cardboard box. Medium format nitrate negative by William Perlitch for the Office of War Information. View full size.

Oakland circa 1917. "Western Electric Co. -- looking east toward Pacific Tel." For more than a century, the company was the manufacturing arm of Bell Telephone. 8x6 glass negative by the Cheney Photo Advertising Co. View full size.

        Its big 8-sheet porcelain tub is insulated to keep water warm! Streamlined 8-position wringer with soft balloon rolls has chromium pressure controls; push-pull safety release; roll-stop safety dry feed rest and automatic water-return board.

October 1941. "Kenmore washer for sale. Sears Roebuck store at Syracuse, New York." Medium format negative by John Collier. View full size.

Richmond, California, 1914. "Victor Talking Machine display. Hawley Piano Co., Macdonald Avenue." With Nipper headlining a list of the latest platters. 8x6 inch glass negative, photographer unknown. View full size.

New York, 1947. "On the set -- Borden Show broadcast." Back when telephones and televisions had dials, and shows were often named for the sponsor. 4x5 acetate negative from the Publicity Department Archive. View full size.

Columbus, Georgia, circa 1960. "Portable TV." RCA Victor "Sportable" TVs, the Research Department informs us. The set so light, you can lift it with three hands! 4x5 acetate negative from the News Archive. View full size.

For Columbus Day we return to 1950s Columbus, Georgia, for this uncaptioned News Archive snap of a lady and a baby with a bent for broadcasting. It's 10:33. Do you know where your children are? 4x5 acetate negative. View full size.

Chicago circa 1960. "Educational tapes." Specifically the "Electronic Educator" tape cartridge system, sharing space with a Fisher Stereophonic Master Audio Control, Sherwood tuner and RCA Victor Deluxe color TV, as well as drawer-mounted reel-to-reel and turntable. 4x5 inch acetate negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1937. "Children's Hospital Rotary." The young man hooked up to a Cambridge Instrument Model X900 Thingamambob. Medical technology experts please weigh in. Harris & Ewing glassneg. View full size.

"Boston, 1963. Records for sale in hi-fi store." Where the fi goes at least as high as Blaupunkt Multiplex Stereo. 35mm negative, photog unknown. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1938. "Marie Passapae, C. Coy Honsaker" is all it says here. Are there enough clues to tell us what's going on? 4x5 glass negative. View full size.

1924. "De Forest Phonofilm Co. Inc. on White House grounds." The inventor and "father of radio" Lee de Forest, center, and components of his sound-on-film system. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

1902. "Tithing department, National Cash Register Co., Dayton, Ohio." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.