THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL PHOTO ARCHIVE • FRAMED PRINTS • STOCK IMAGES

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.

Circa 1874. Albumen carte de visite. An early clubman. England. Bike has an open head, spoon brake with straight handlebars. Accessorised with a hub lamp. Photographer is C. Carter. View full size.

My niece and nephews were coming down for an Easter egg hunt, so that gave my brother, his wife and me an excuse to color some eggs for the first time since our own childhood. I made a caricature of my brother, another that was supposed to look like the Western Hemisphere, and at the bottom center in a sort of holiday mashup, an homage to one of our favorite vintage Christmas tree ornaments. The brown ones were made via the traditional onion skin method and some forgotten arcane process produced the blue-and-white mottled jobs. Paste-on printed features from an egg-dyeing kit are on two, and two more are named for their creators. All posed against the lawn at the family home in Idyllic Larkspur™, California and immortalized by me with this Polaroid snapshot. View full size.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters who help keep the lights on at Shorpy. Your contribution lets you browse Shorpy free of ads and get access to special content and other rewards (we've mailed out more than 1,500 photo postcards).

But, importantly, you get our everlasting gratitude and a warm feeling for helping support Shorpy. You can become a Patreon or make a one-time contribution on PayPal.