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Vintage photos of:
Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
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April 1938. Store in Halifax, North Carolina, with signs advertising carbonated beverages and patent medicines. View full size. Photograph by John Vachon.
"The Fly in the Ointment," dated May 22, 1920. Even bigger laffs. More Shorpy funnies on the Comics Page. Subscribe to the Shorpy Comics Feed!
May 1939. Coal miner's son in Kempton, West Virginia. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon, Farm Security Administration.
Lady resident of a St. Paul rooming house. September 1939. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by by John Vachon, Farm Security Administration.
October 1938. Farm wife and baby waiting in the car while her husband attends the auction. Oskaloosa, Kansas. View full size. Photograph by John Vachon.
October 1938. Farm girl in Seward County, Nebraska. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.
April 1937. Children playing in Washington, D.C. View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.
Reading room of 10 cent Bowery lodging house circa 1903. Headline in newspaper: "San Domingo Falls After Big Battle." View full size. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection.
10-cent Turkish bath in New York's Bowery district circa 1910. 8x10 glass negative, George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. View full size.
5 cent restaurant in New York's Bowery circa 1910. View full size. 8x10 glass negative, G.G. Bain Collection. What you get for your 5 cents at the People's Restaurant: Stew, Pork & Beans, Oatmeal & Milk. "All with bread & coffee."
June 1942. Workers on the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Dam hydro- electric project. View full size. 3.25 inch safety negative by Arthur Rothstein.
June 1942. Control Room of the TVA's Watts Bar Dam on the Tennessee River. View full size. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein.
"Watts Bar steam plant. Large opening leads to lobby which gives access to stairs, overlook balcony, and toilets. Lobby is separated from turbine hall by a similar glazed opening. A direct view can be had from outside toward impressive generators. Note hooded slits which take place of windows in boiler room. Design facilitates blackout." View full size. Circa 1942; photographer unknown.
June 1942. Excursion steamer Gordon C. Green of Cincinnati approaching the TVA's Wilson Dam in Alabama. View full size. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein.