May 1936. "Sheep ranch in Converse County, Wyoming." Medium-format neg by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

My father, in his comfy leather chair, and our houseguest Bob have their eyes glued to the TV, almost undoubtedly watching the news. We don't know what that news was or its import, but a headline in the San Francisco Examiner reflects an epochal moment: "7 Men Ready for First Space Flight." Three months later Alan Shepard was the one of those Project Mercury astronauts to do it. This 127 Ektachrome transparency has a processing date of February 1961 on the mount.

Bob, a Cal Poly classmate of my brother's, lived with us for a bit while apartment-hunting. Father's clip-on bow tie is actually part of his Jolly Store grocery clerk outfit, indicating he probably just got home, pausing just long enough to slip into his slippers. We also continue the saga of Mother's window treatment, with different-but-similar drapes and curtains. Her love/hate relationship with African violets appears to be in the hate phase at the moment as there are none to be seen. I was standing on the stairway landing, thus the high angle. Man, that leather chair was comfy. View full size.

August 13, 1957. "Hotel Zeiger. Ellenville, New York. General lobby." Join us in the Jubilee Room for cocktails and dancing! That stair rail looks like it was filched off a pool table. Large format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

July 1939. "Theatre on 9th Street. Washington, D.C." Seventeen years after our previous visit. Large format nitrate negative by David Myers. View full size.

September 1942. "Rochester, New York. Mrs. Babcock, Shirley and Earl greeting Mr. Babcock in front of the house." The nucleus of this nuclear family, orbited by his little electron. Large format negative by Ralph Amdursky. View full size.

Circa 1900. "Charleston, S.C., from St. Michael's Church." St. Philip's Church at right. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

August 1939. "Drought-stricken farmer and family near Muskogee, Oklahoma. Agricultural day laborer." Wanted: Escalade with tinted glass. Large format negative by Dorothea Lange, Resettlement Administration. View full size.

July 1942. "Sunday loungers at Hains Point." Peaceful wartime Washington. Photo by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.

"Linda's 4th birthday -- 1951." Not so coincidentally, today is Shorpy's sixth birthday. Happy Birthdays all around! 35mm Kodachrome. View full size.

September 1937 and another dispatch from John Vachon: "Children living on the outskirts of Washington, D.C." And their rabbit hutch. View full size.

September 1937. "House in Negro quarter of Rosslyn, Virginia." Washington, D.C., and the Key Bridge form the background for this curious scene. Medium-format negative by John Vachon. View full size.

From August 1939 comes this unlabeled negative, one of a series of pictures taken by Herbert Mayer in Virginia and Maine and residing in the Farm Security Administration archive at the Library of Congress, and its cryptic message. Honi soit qui mal y pense: Happy Valentine's Day from Shorpy! View full size.

November 8, 1956. "Forest Brook Elementary School, Hauppauge, Long Island. Classroom and teacher." For those of a certain demographic, this may strike a chord. Large-format negative by Gottscho-Schleisner. View full size.

August 1937. "Gas station and gospel mission in Cleveland, Ohio." In addition to Koolmotor "Gasolene," a long-defunct Cities Service brand, we also seem to have at least a couple of the major food groups represented here, as well as two verses from the New Testament. Photo by John Vachon. View full size.

New York, 1910. "Elvira de Hildalgo." Our winsome Spanish soprano reprises her previous appearance, this time with instrumental accompaniment. Among her vocal pupils in later years was Maria Callas. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.