"Man operating water tricycle" (Supplemented by wind power?) Circa 1913. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

"Boxing mail in the New York post office." View full size. Circa 1913. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Note the spittoon.

Along the lines of the Beaver Letter, we're excited to present the Jim Letter from the opening credits of "The Office." You might think it would have something to do with the Dunder Mifflin paper company's Scranton branch, but actually it's a Los Angeles Department of City Planning (zoning) document showing revisions to the L.A. Municipal Code. Specifically, Section 12.22.C.20(f).

June 1942. Electrical transformer at the TVA Chickamauga Dam near Chattanooga. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

March 14, 1917. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. "Jack Ryan, 6 years old and Jesse Ryan, 10 years old. Onem Smith, 12 years old and lives at 1506 S. Robinson St. Onem said: 'I never have been in school in my life but I got a pretty good education - sellin' papers'." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

June 1940. Cajun boys fishing in the bayou near Schriever, Louisiana, not far from the Terrebonne Parish School. View full size. 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration.

June 1942. "Generator hall of the Chickamauga Dam powerhouse near Chattanooga, Tenn." 4x5 inch Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer. View full size.

Street scene in Washington, D.C., winter of 1941-42. View full size. Alternate version here. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Louise Rosskam, probably taken near the N and Union intersection of her other shots. Clues are the Chung Wah laundry at 1264, the J. Marucci barbershop and the A. Peterman clothing store.

October 1942. P-51 "Mustang" fighter planes being prepared for test flight near the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.

August 1911, Eastport, Maine. All these boys are cutters in the Seacoast Canning Co., Factory #7. Ages range from 7 to 12. Seven year old boy in front, Byron Hamilton, has a badly cut finger, but helps his brother regularly. Behind him is his brother George, 11 years. He cut his finger half off while working. They and many other youngsters said they were always cutting their fingers. George earns $1 some days, 75 cents usually. Some of the others said they earn $1 when they work all day. At times they start at 7 A.M. Work all day, and until midnight, but the work is very irregular. Names of those in the photo are George Mathews, Johnny Rust, John Surles, Fulsom McCutchin (11 yrs.), Albert Robinson, Morris McConnell. View full size. Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine.

"I cut my finger nearly off, cutting sardines the other day." Seven-year-old Byron Hamilton of Eastport, Maine, earns 25 cents a day as a cutter at the Seacoast Sardine cannery. August 1911. View full size. Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.

Amarillo, Texas, in March 1943. "General view of the city and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad." View full size | Or even bigger. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. More Amarillo here and here.

A Civil War photograph from 1865 of Fort Johnson on Morris Island near Charleston, South Carolina. View full size | Closeup of the crates. Wet collodion glass plate, half of stereo pair. Note the tent with a brick fireplace.

December 1942. "Proviso departure yard of the Chicago & North Western R.R. at twilight." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano. View full size.

General view of Amarillo, Texas, taken by Jack Delano on his trip via the Santa Fe rails from Chicago to California in March 1943. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency, Office of War Information. View full size | View even larger. The street running left to right is SW 11th Avenue, crossing South Tyler Street. The building with the red tile roof is First Presbyterian Church at 1100 South Harrison. Another 1943 view of the neighborhood and South Tyler street is here.