October 1939. "Another corner of Soper kitchen. Willow Creek area, Malheur County, Oregon." View full size. Nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange.

1941. "Completed sanitary privy in Minnesota being inspected by farmer and engineer of Farm Security Administration." View full size. Medium format safety negative by Shipman for the Farm Security Administration.

January 1941. Lowell, Mass. "Commuters who have just come off the train, waiting for the bus to go home." 35mm Kodachrome by Jack Delano. View full size.

March 1944. Washington, D.C. St. Patrick's Day dance at the Washington labor canteen, sponsored by the United Federal Workers of America, Congress of Industrial Organizations. View full size. Medium format safety negative by Joseph A. Horne for the Office of War Information.

May 1957. "Smith Wedding." Found 35mm Kodachrome. View full size.

Washington area, 1922. "Railroad wreck." View full size. National Photo Company Collection. The tilted camera gives a nice arrangement of diagonals.

October 1935. "A cider and apple stand on the Lee Highway, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein.

August 1935. Shelling peanuts in Wolf Creek, Georgia. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Farm Security Administration.

From July 1921, the Krazy Kat club off Thomas Circle in Washington, with Cleon Throckmorton to the right. View full size. National Photo Company Collection.

July 1937. "Louisiana Negress." View full size. Medium-format nitrate negative and caption by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.

July 15, 1921. Cleon Throckmorton at the easel on the terrace of the Krazy Kat, an establishment described by the Washington Post two years earlier as "something like a Greenwich Village coffeehouse." Scroll down to the comments for more on "Throck," an engineering graduate who made his name designing sets for Eugene O'Neill's plays, and was the first art director for CBS in the early days of television. View full size. National Photo Company Collection.

July 1937. "Man who worked in Fullerton, Louisiana, lumber mill for 15 years. He is now left stranded in the cut-over area." View full size. 4x5 nitrate negative by Dorothea Lange for the Farm Security Administration.

One cold February night your webmaster was faced with a choice: Poignant sepia- tinged Lewis Hine urchin ("says 12 yrs., but it is doubtful") or a 1957 Kodachrome titled "Three Girl Pyramid." After a nanosecond of deliberation, the Oscar for Best Transparency in a 100-Year-Old Photo Blog goes to: "Three Girl Pyramid"! [Rest of the caption: "Beautiful Florida Cypress Gardens 4/5/57."] View full size.

Montgomery County, Maryland. The roller coaster at Glen Echo Park in 1926. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

Houston, Texas. October 1913. "Fourteen-year-old Western Union Messenger #43. Works until 10:30 p.m. Goes to Reservation [red light district] some." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.