Preparing for Circus Week at Madison Square Garden, New York. March 21, 1913. 5x7 glass plate negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size.

"Vacation Circus," circa 1915. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection.

Carnegie Playground, Fifth Avenue, New York. Circa 1910. View full size. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

New York playground c. 1910. View full size. Geo. Grantham Bain collection.

New York playground c. 1910. View full size. Geo. Grantham Bain collection.

Circa 1913. "New York playground." View full size. Geo. Grantham Bain collection.

MODEL PLAYGROUND IN COUNTRY. 1907. 5x7 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection. View full size | See every disturbing detail.

Spring 1943. Church at Cerros [Cerro], near Costilla, New Mexico. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by John Collier.

"New York City: Horse overcome by heat." Circa 1910. View full size. George Grantham Bain Collection. Hopefully the equine ambulance was on its way.

Night view of the Washington Street produce market, New York City, 1952. View full size. Photograph by Walter Albertin for the World Telegram & Sun.

The Hotel Astor on Times Square circa 1916. Note roof garden and, at lower right, the elaborate marquee for the film "Civilization." View full size. (George Grantham Bain Collection.) The building, at 1515 Broadway and West 44th Street, was demolished in 1967 and replaced by, in the words of one architecture critic, a "hideous tall office tower," 1 Astor Plaza, whose crownlike top is a familiar sight from across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

The Blue Bell diner at 619 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington. June 1948. View full size | Even larger | Read the menu. The Blue Bell had an upscale cousin on 10th Street, the Waffle Shop. Photograph by Theodor Horydczak.

October 1942. Experimental staff at the North American Aviation plant in Ingle- wood, Calif., observing wind tunnel tests on a model of the B-25 ("Billy Mitchell") bomber. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer.

A homemade swimming pool for steelworkers' children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, July, 1938. View full size.

The American minstrel performer Japanese Tommy, aka Thomas Dilward, circa 1860. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection. View large as life.