June 8, 1909. "Living on a skyscraper." Roof of a New York apartment house. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

Another view of Mott Street in New York's Little Italy (now Chinatown) circa 1910. The building in the middle, 156 Mott, with the Italian pharmacy, is now the Foot Reflexology Center in this Google Street View. The address on the right, 156 Mott, is now just two stories. Most of the basement entrances have been covered. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

May 1864. "Kearny's men wounded at Fredericksburg." Wet plate glass negative, right half of stereo pair. Photograph by James Gardner. View full size.

New York, 1908. "The Chinese Opera House." 5-7 Doyers Street. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.

New York circa 1908. Making a plaster death mask. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

Washington Heights in New York City, 1912. "American League Park (Hilltop Park)." View full size. 5x7 nitrate negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

Marion Gaynor, daughter of New York Mayor William J. Gaynor, and her pet crow "Pete" circa 1910. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. Marion, an animal lover whose first of four marriages came when she was 16, died after a train hit her car at a Long Island grade crossing in 1944.

1908. The East Front of the U.S. Capitol, with the Washington Monument at left. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

December 1943. Washington, D.C. "Child playing in nursery at the United Nations service center while her mother buys tickets at Union Station." Medium format negative by Esther Bubley for the Office of War Information. View full size.

The full-size version of this is a kind of portal to the past. "May 1864. Fredericksburg, Virginia. Cooking tent of the U.S. Sanitary Commission." Photograph from the main Eastern theater of war, Grant's Wilderness Campaign, May-June 1864. Wet plate glass negative by James Gardner. View full size.

July 20, 1926. Another view of the train wreck at Cameron Run, near Alexandria, Virginia. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

July 20, 1926. "Train wreck at Cameron Run." A 35-car derailment in Virginia. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

September 30, 1924. Washington Nationals pitcher Walter Johnson, aka "The Big Train," with his wife, mother and children at Union Station. View full size. National Photo Company collection glass negative, Library of Congress.

March 1944. Two guests at a St. Patrick's Day party at the Washington Labor Canteen sponsored by the United Federal Workers of America. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Joseph Horne, Office of War Information.

February 1944. The folk singer Pete Seeger entertaining Eleanor Roosevelt, honored guest at a Valentine's Day party to mark the opening of the United Federal Labor Canteen in Washington. View full size. Medium-format safety negative by Joseph Horne for the Office of War Information.