Detroit circa 1907. "A glimpse of Woodward Avenue from City Hall." Points of interest in this corner of the Campus Martius include the Hotel Pontchartrain, Bagley Fountain and Sol Berman's "Misfit" haberdashery. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

May 2, 1941. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. Exhibition hall." Large-format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

        U.S. Government bought property of Curtis, Perry & Ward, assayers, for $335,000 and reconstructed building as fireproof three-story brick. Opened as U.S. Mint April 3, 1854. Old building razed 1874. New Sub-Treasury built 1875-1877, four-story pressed brick on granite sills. Building partially destroyed by fire and dynamited in 1906 earthquake ($13 million in gold saved in basement vaults). Restored as one-story building. Passed into private hands in 1915. —HABS, 1940

March 1940. "McCoy Label Co., old U.S. Sub-Treasury & Mint, 608 Commercial Street, San Francisco." Break time for the label-gummers. Photo by A.J. Wittlock for the Historic American Buildings Survey. View full size.

        "Secretary of War Newton D. Baker trying out a new eight-wheel Ford tractor, which has the reputation of being able to get over almost any road. Among the dignitaries in the background is Maj. Gen. Peyton C. March." Click here for another view.

February 1921. Washington, D.C. "Army car at Connecticut Avenue Bridge." A sort of Model T on steroids. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

1905. "R.H. Macy & Co., New York." The famous department store. Corner tenant: Lucio's, the jeweler whose pearls, rubies and diamonds "defy detection." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Washington, D.C. "Mrs. Boby's group, 1924." Happy Easter from Shorpy and his peeps! National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Back to my Uncle Albert in his office at the Foote, Cone and Belding advertising agency in San Francisco's Russ Building about 1954. Amid a fine selection of period office accouterments, including a space-saver phone and cigarette ashes, he's working on this ad. As Vice-President and Production Manager, he was in charge of layout, design, graphics and typography, and also for such accounts as Southern Pacific, Dole Pineapple and Pacific Bell.

Albert's interest in fine printing and typography led to his amassing a significant collection of manuscripts, first editions, prints and other art, much of which now resides at institutions like Stanford, UCLA and Berkeley. In particular, his collection of over 1000 books, drawings, etchings and correspondence of the English sculptor, printmaker and typeface designer (as in Gill Sans) Eric Gill is at the Gleeson Library of the University of San Francisco. View full size.

New York circa 1908. "Living on a skyscraper." An apartment building rooftop garden, with a small menagerie. Bain News Service glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1931. The caption for this one is NO CAPTION. What's going on here? Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.

        James Clair Flood Mansion (now Pacific Union Club), 1000 California Street, San Francisco. Built 1885-86; Augustus Laver, architect. Reputed cost of about $1 million. Flood died 1889; Mrs. Flood, 1897. Descendants occupied until fire of 1906 gutted interior. Acquired by Pacific Union Club about 1909 and remodeled by Willis Polk in 1910. New England brownstone shell (said to be first brownstone west of Mississippi); Italianate ornamental details. Fence of bronze by W.T. Garratt, at cost estimated from $30,000 to $60,000. Only Nob Hill house to survive fire. —HABS, 1940

March 1940. The Flood Mansion in San Francisco, last seen here after being gutted by fire following the 1906 earthquake, 108 years ago today. Photo by A.J. Wittlock for the Historic American Buildings Survey. View full size.

"The Flood Mansion, Nob Hill." After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which was 108 years ago today. 8x10 dry plate glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1931. "Man with portable radio receiver and phonograph." Who seems to be using the amplifier to play a record into a microphone. Note handy "Radio Spectrum" chart. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.

Jan. 19, 1956. Wellington, New Zealand. "Anthony and Paul Banks with a Hoover washing machine." The pint-size washer for small families. View full size.

1914. "Cats in coveralls on chin-up bar." Photo by Harry Whittier Frees, patient poser of anthropomorphic puppies and kitschy kittens. View full size.

Denver, Colorado, circa 1908. "Welcome arch at Union Depot looking down 17th Street." The arch, with the Hebrew benediction "mizpah" soon replacing WELCOME on the other (departure) side, was torn down in 1931. View full size.