Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.
Shorpy is an online archive of thousands of high-resolution photos from the 1850s to 1950s. Our namesake, Shorpy Higginbotham, was a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
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The Jersey shore circa 1904. "Steel Pier, Atlantic City." Can anything compare to Atlantic City in the summer, and the feel of sand in your bathing-socks? 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Circa 1897. "Berth deck cooks, U.S.S. Oregon." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

San Francisco, April 1906, after the earthquake and fire that leveled much of the city. "Cooking in the street." Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Selinger front, 820 F Street." Onlookers at the wristwatch display seen in the previous post. National Photo Co. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Selinger window, 820 F Street N.W., sale of Army wrist watches." Wristwatches, which saw widespread use during the First World War as "trench watches," were entering the mainstream as the era of the pocket watch began to wind down. National Photo glass negative. View full size.

Alternate title: "The Blob." Washington, D.C., circa 1919. This glass negative is in sad shape but still has lots of interesting details, especially if you're a movie buff. A very indistinct scrawl along the edge has been transcribed as "Meadus Theater." Extra credit for the first commenter to Street View this. (UPDATE: Put your hands together for Charlene, who was the first to correctly name and locate this cinema -- Meader's Theater on Eighth Street S.E.) View full size.

Washington, D.C. "March 18, 1922. Ku Klux Klan." And Klanmobile. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.