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.

Washington, D.C., 1920. "Miss Marie Smith." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, one of five photos of Marie and her pup.

August 1, 1924. Vicinity of Washington, D.C. "Camp Good Will." View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.

December 1941. "Bird's eye view of San Juan, Puerto Rico." View full size. Medium format Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. Who can identify the building? Alternate version of this shot.

January 9, 1914. Men's dormitory at the New York Municipal Lodging House. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.

From 1861, a second look at these Northern infantry campers -- and our first glimpse of their puppy. "District of Columbia. Tent life of the 31st (later, 82nd) Pennsylvania Infantry at Queen's Farm, vicinity of Fort Slocum." View full size. Wet-plate glass negative, left half of stereo pair, photographer unknown. This has a lot in common with the pictures Dorothea Lange would be taking 75 years later of Dust Bowl migrants in the agricultural tent camps of California.

Library of Congress annotation: Princess Agnes Salm-Salm, wife of Prince Felix of Prussia, who served with the Union Army, observed in January 1862 that the winter camp of the Army of the Potomac was "teeming with women." Some wives insisted on staying with their husbands, which may have been the case with this woman, judging by her housewifely pose alongside a soldier, three young children, and a puppy. In addition to taking care of her own family, she may have worked as a camp laundress or nurse. Some women who lacked the marital voucher of respectability were presumed to be prostitutes and were periodically ordered out of camp. Only gradually during the four years of the war, and in the face of unspeakable suffering, were women grudgingly accepted by military officials and the general public in the new public role of nurse.

Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, in 1912. Relaxing at National Guard training camp. View full size. National Photo Company Collection glass negative.