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Circa 1850s sixth-plate daguerreotype, photographer unknown. "Unidentified boy and girl, three-quarter length, seated on upholstered bench." View full size.
Alexandria, Va., 1861-69. "The Marshall house, King & Pitt Streets." Wet plate glass negative, right half of stereo pair. Photographer unknown. View full size. Who'll be the first to put this together with its companion image in a very short flipbook and post it to YouTube? Or it could be an animated gif. Either way, we'd have the world's earliest (and shortest) HD movie.
Alexandria, Va., 1861-69. "The Marshall house, King & Pitt Streets." Wet plate glass negative, left half of stereo pair. Photographer unknown. View full size.
The 1930s posters done for the Works Progress Administration have proven to be especially popular in the Shorpy gift shop, so Juniper Gallery has started Vintagraph, a Web site dedicated to high-quality reproductions of this unique artwork on museum-grade French art paper. Favorites include the curiously popular Keep Your Teeth Clean as well as the heroically proportioned Don't Jay Walk. We're adding new posters every day at www.vintagraph.com.
October 1940. "Million Dollar Highway is cut through massive rocks in Ouray County, Colorado." U.S. 550 between Silverton and Ouray. Now a paved modern highway, this is a spectacular mountain route that I've driven many times over the years. View full size. 35mm Kodachrome transparency by Russell Lee.
October 1914. Anniston, Alabama. "Housing conditions at Adelaide Mill. The village is run down and greatly in need of sanitary improvements." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Another selection from the LOC archives of Alfred Palmer's strikingly composed large-format black-and-white transparencies shot in December 1941 at factories in Akron and Cleveland. White Motor Company, Cleveland, Ohio. "Halftrac scout cars. Putting precision-made pistons assemblies into precision-made cylinders is a job that fits this former auto worker. The engine will be the power plant of an Army halftrac scout car. The Midwest plant that is turning it out has trained American automotive workers for every job on the line." View full size. 4x5 nitrate negative by Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information.
December 1936. Dickens, Iowa. "Part of the L.H. Nissen family of ten living in a three-room shack. Rest of family at school. The whole house was of unusually high humidity. The wife said they could not dry out the bedding because of the poor ventilation. This is the living room and kitchen combined." View full size. Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Resettlement Administration.
December 1936. "Washstand in corner of kitchen of Edgar Allen's home on farm near Milford, Iowa. Contrast this with washstand picture of Harry Madsen farm, tenant house." View full size. Medium format negative by Russell Lee.
October 1938. Cincinnati, Ohio. "Watching the sesquicentennial parade go by." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the FSA.
November 1938. "Unemployed man. Omaha, Nebraska." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.
April 15, 1920. Washington, D.C. A timeless message from the tots seen earlier today in the previous post. View full size. National Photo Company Collection.
April 15, 1920. Washington, D.C. "Tree planting." View full size. I looked high and low for a good CCC photo in honor of Earth Day, but they were all disappointingly low-res. So it's a National Photo glass negative to the rescue.
October 1911. South Framingham, Massachusetts. Joseph Frank Nugent, 22 Howard Street, works in Department 8A of Dennison Factory; makes paper boxes. "I nip the covers." "One year there, 'bout time for a raise." View full size. Photo and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. This reminds me of a painting by Magritte.
May 1910. St. Louis, Missouri. "Bundle Boys at Nugent's, Washington and Broadway." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.