New Zealand circa 1905. "Sumner, Christchurch. Interior of large tent decorated with posters and picture postcards, with tallboy and mirror, trunks with flags, lamps and 'Myrtle Camp' sign." For the men of Myrtle Camp, all the comforts of home and then some. Glass plate by Adam Maclay. View full size.

Circa 1908. "North Adams, Massachusetts -- Church Street." Let's meet under the elm tree. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

August 1864. "Petersburg, Virginia. Army of the Potomac. Two youthful military telegraph operators at headquarters." Habitues of the Victorian Internet. Wet plate negative, half of stereograph pair, by Timothy H. O'Sullivan. View full size.

April 1937. "U.S. post office. Shawneetown, Illinois." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1913. "E.F. Droop & Sons Co. music store." Back when the Victrola was the iPod of its day. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.

1950. From photographs by Stanley Kubrick for the Look magazine article "The Debutante Who Went to Work": "Socialite model/actress Betsy Von Furstenberg attending a weekend house party. Includes Von Furstenberg, hostess Sandra Stralem and other young women in ball gowns." View full size.

May 12, 1939. "New York World's Fair, Ford Motor Building. Entrance." The stainless steel sculpture of a V8-brandishing Mercury was by Robert Foster. Large-format acetate negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

Pittsburgh circa 1908. "Fifth Avenue looking north." On the left, Kaufmann's. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

June 1924. Washington, D.C. "Carl W. Mitman, Curator of Engineering, U.S. National Museum [Smithsonian Institution], holding what is believed to be the first radio tube, made in 1898 by D. McFarlan Moore of New York. Radio waves emanating from this tube ignited a bomb a city block away and blew up a miniature of the Battleship Maine." Harris & Ewing glass plate. View full size.

"Adams Reunion, 1962." Somewhere in Maryland or Pennsylvania, it's Kermy at left with the glasses, sister Janet on the right with tot and Dale with the watch, relationship unknown. A nice day in the cemetery-cornfield. View full size.

Circa 1905 near Christchurch, New Zealand. "Young people with camping gear, having tea and cake in front of tent with 'Clover Camp' sign." These natty campers have even brought umbrellas. Glass plate by Adam Maclay. View full size.

May 1941. "In the convict camp at Greene County, Georgia." The guitarist is bluesman Buddy Moss. Photo by Jack Delano. View full size.

Circa 1914. "Cat in costume piloting toy airplane." Photo by Harry W. Frees, the Ansel Adams of feline kitsch. Or would that be catsch? View full size.

Cos Cob, Connecticut, circa 1908. "Owanoke Prospector's Camp -- Wyndygoul." Camping on the estate of writer-naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton, a founder of the Boy Scouts of America. Points of interest in this 8x10 glass plate: many trees camouflaging one ambush. Bain News Service. View full size.

Circa 1906. "YMCA Building, Springfield, Massachusetts." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.