Jack's Wonderful House, 1910s.


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A whimsical interpretation of the human body as a house, with Jack's study at the top, and various windows and doors for sensory input to enter through. From a series of articles in The Book of Knowledge, 1910s. The articles may be an adaptation of this book, although I was unable to find any direct one-for-one quotes in The Book of Knowledge.

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Men And Cars, 1930s.


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Two dapper men, in suits and fedoras, near a number of parked cars. Appears 1930s; from this set.

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Rototilling The Garden, 1930s.


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Man running a small rototiller, readying his garden for planting. 1930s; from this set.

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Horse In Barnyard, 1930s.


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Horse near barn door, 1930s. From this set.

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Couple By Firepit, 1940s.



Couple standing by a brick firepit. Appears 1940s.

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Submarine Point-Of-View, 1910s.


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My impression of a submarine's visual acuity was similar to a telescope: Square-jawed 1950s movie stars peering into a binocular-like apparatus suspended from the ceiling, ordering torpedoes to be fired. During and prior to WWI, submarines were just coming into their own, and would soon be the secret weapon to turn a war's direction. The periscope, according to the image above, operated quite differently than my memories of mid-20th-century naval war movies. A bowl-shaped mirror was lifted, at the top of a tube, above the surface of the ocean. It reflected light down the viewing tube, projecting it, a'la camera obscura, on to a white tabletop for review by the captain and his officers. The bowl-shape projects the distended, distorted view seen in the image above. While this afforded an instant, at-a-glance view of the submarine's surroundings, it did not provide the rangefinding, weapon-aiming, or navigation facilities that a modern sub enjoys. From The Book of Knowledge, published in the 1910s.

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Flooded Doghouse, 1950.


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The 2009 Flood has crested in Grand Forks and the river is falling, but in 1950 even the dogs were victims. In this posed photo, an unhappy cocker spaniel surveys the swollen Red River of the North from the peak of his home, just outside a flooded Grand Forks house (the address, 317 Euclid Ave, no longer exists). From this group of photos.

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Dorothy Raddatz, 1890s.


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The back of the photo, in a childish pencil script, is the name "Dorothy Raddatz". Appears to be late 19th century. From a bunch of random photos acquired recently.

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Cattle And The Farmer, 1930s.


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A man tending to his cattle, 1930s.

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Forests, Deserts, and Prairies, 1910s.


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From The Children's Encyclopedia, published in the 1910s, and designed by "G.F. Morrell". This illustrated map, ignoring political boundaries and man-made roads or railways, is pieced together from several smaller maps, depicting the various environments of the world. The caption of the maps engages in some scare-mongering, comparing the expanding deserts as proof our planet is moving towards being as arid as the moon, but it also describes deforestation as "a disastrous thing for a country," recognizing that removal of trees and grasses can result in loss of topsoil and a collapse of the food-creating industries.

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Easter Egg Hunt, 1961.


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Severely underexposed slide from this set, made legible through Photoshop: a small child, bundled tightly against the elements, picking up an Easter egg near a propane tank, 1961.

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Zoo Bears, 1930s.



Two bears in a wooded enclosure, 1930s.

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1934 Ford Sedan

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A 1934 Ford Sedan, two-door body. Taken during the mid-1930s.

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Niagara Falls Ride, 1905.


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You might think Disney invented immersive amusement park rides, but he was a latecomer to the game. As trolley car services grew in cities, they looked for ways to expand ridership. One popular solution: buy land towards the end of the line, and build an amusement park. You can't count on short-line railroad entrepeneurs to also be experts in weekend frivolities, so they had to get their attractions from somebody, and possibly a creative genius like Joseph Turner. Turner operated his New York business on the premise that the people of Kansas City would love the chance to visit Niagara Falls, complete with synthetic wind, water, and Native American legends. Read the entire ad here.

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Twin Elm Farm, 1938.

Seated Boy, Book in Lap, 1900s.


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A hand-colored portrait of a seated boy, holding a book in his lap. Appears 1900s.

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