THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL PHOTO ARCHIVE • FRAMED PRINTS • STOCK IMAGES

This despondent looking crew are the drawn from the various Scandanavian, German, and Irish families settled in or near Wadena, Minnesota during the late 1800s. Wadena, located in the west-central part of the state, was (and is) a pretty small town, so some of these kids probably had an epic daily commute, by foot, from farm to school house. Identities are unknown except for Bernard Francis Burch (1889-1985), third from left in the first standing row. View full size.

Philadelphia, 1904. "Land Title Trust Building, Broad Street." The umpteenth appearance on these pages of this early skyscraper. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size.

It's seventy years ago in Idyllic Larkspur™, where we find me (bottom left corner) with Bob, David, Bob, Jim, Jim, Margaret, Sandy, Donna, Rae Ann, Roberta, Virginia, Jerry, Buzzy, Fred, Gordy, Frances, Alice, Alice, Sheila, Mrs. Madeline Drew and others whose names I forget. This was taken within a month of losing nearly half our classmates, they having been siphoned off to the district's brand new school in neighboring "Twin City," almost-as-Idyllic Corte Madera. And that one was already overcrowded, for which first-wave baby boomers such as we must shoulder the blame. As for me, good old L-CM was just four blocks from our home at 9 Arch Street, and I continued to walk the round-trip every school day, rain or shine, until I graduated 8th grade. View full size.

Johnson Gear & Mfg. Co., Berkeley, California, circa 1922.

Frances Dorsey "Fanny" Cagwin, along with her husband George, were our neighbors in Larkspur, California, where they'd lived since 1905. Frances had been a school teacher in Virginia City, Nevada when she met George, and they married in 1887 at Carson City, where he was employed at the U.S. Mint. She was an accomplished musician, and in the living room of their Craftsman style home could be found a gleaming Steinway rosewood square grand piano. A wedding gift of her father to her mother, it had made the trip from New York by ship around Cape Horn to San Francisco, then by horse-drawn freight over the Sierras to Virginia City. Follow the link in George's name to see him and get a glimpse of his eventful life. Frances died in 1958 at the age of 92, and George in 1959 at 102. My big brother, then in high school and doing gardening work and errand-running for the Cagwins, took this Ansco Color slide with his then-new Leidolf Lordox 24x36 35mm camera. View full size.

From circa 1946 comes this 35mm Kodachrome of Jim and Jack Hardman and their Christmas train set in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. View full size.

Frank Anneser (left) and friends decked out in lederhosen with their German Oktoberfest band. Bringing a taste of Bavarian music to Buffalo, New York, in 1925. View full size.

Senior Sneak was the name applied to Marin Catholic High School's pre-graduation recreation getaway day, which for the class of 1955, including my brother and his roll of Tri-X film, was on May 18th that year. There was nothing particularly sneaky about it, since it was school-sponsored -- another shot depicts the principal at the refreshment counter clad in a distinctly non-priestly Hawaiian shirt. The location is Adobe Creek Lodge in Los Altos Hills, 50 miles south of the school on the San Francisco Peninsula. View full size.

"Georgie #2". Found 35mm Kodachrome slide. View full size.

My mom Thérèse Helene (Larochelle) Lavoie (1943-2019) when she was around 20 years-old in the early 1960s near Saint-Isidore, Dorchester, Québec, Canada. A similar photograph taken at the same time was captured in an oil painting.

Grand Island, Nebraska. 1951.

Second Street looking NW toward Market Street, which seems to still be coping with BART construction. Far as I know, 1970 is as good a guess as any. 4x5 Ektachrome, 180 mm Symmar and a polarizer.

My college buddy and I drove in a 77 Ford Pinto from Los Gatos to the south rim of the grand canyon and got there right at day break. Hours through the desert at night was brutal in trying to stay awake (and find open gas stations). We'd been up for 24 hours but I don't think it was a problem as the sun was coming up over this breath taking place. The Pinto by the way broke it's timing belt the day after we got back to Dallas.

My mother's older sister Mary in a glass plate negative taken about 1916 in the family home in San Francisco. She's also been seen on Shorpy here in the same room and with her Model T Roadster here. Mary's was a short life; she died from tuberculosis in 1922. View full size.

A highly unusual Open Front, Hand Propelled Lever Driven Velocipede Tricycle. Date is ca 1867 but likely earlier. Steering is with the feet controlling the front wheels. One half of an Albumen Stereoview. Rider identified on the reverse as C.A. Way of Charlestown, New Hampshire. These types of vehicles were all a part of the historic development of the cycle to the modern bicycle as we know it today. View full size.