Portraits from Photoplay Magazine, Jan 1915. This is a great source for actors of the period, and I suspect some in the #geneology community will love it as well. archive.org/details/Phot... UPenn also has a list of available issues. onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/seria... 🗃️ 📷 #c20th

Stop Smoking ad, 1929. I suppose i shouldn't be surprised that there were people in the 20s looking to stop smoking, but I am. This is in an old copy of Triple-X magazine, which is a pulp magazine that's far tamer than it sounds. Internet Archive. archive.org/details/trip... #c20th 🗃️

I'm designing some new business cards for myself and I thought, instead of using some lame clip art, I would find something cool in an old newspaper. Voila! A really cool typewriter illustration from 1911. Is that a tiny pencil on the top? #c20th 🗃️ www.loc.gov/resource/sn8...

Chinese, Italian, Swedish, frog's legs and a "succulent roast duckling" for good measure. Here's a President's Day restaurant guide from 1941. some cool stuff in here, particularly the international style places. #c20th 🗃️ 🍜 www.loc.gov/resource/sn8...

Baseball player "Germany" Schaefer using a handheld camera. 1911 I love this photo. The juxtaposition of the baseball player and this oversized camera is really cool and kinda funny to my modern eyes. A smart phone has a 1 inch square camera... 🗃️ #c20th #baseball LOC Flickr flic.kr/p/4i78qX

How do people feel about using AI (LLMs like chatGPT) to generate alt text for images in bsky posts? I've used tesseract to OCR newspaper clips for alt text before, but I'm thinking that an LLM will do a better job of visually describing images, and will better serve visually impaired readers.

"Soul Winning Revival Center" I love the juxtaposition of mid century architecture and that very American expression of a religious revival. 1977, California 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/2rvzfix

Of course, Victorians were a very reserved people and never, ever even hinted about sex... Well done to the #c19th ad man that made me do a double take 131 years later. However I'm not sure chewing tobacco and kissing go together. yikes. 1894 LOC www.loc.gov/resource/sn9... #advertising 🗃️

I've been diving into some #shortstories I've found in some #c19th newspapers. This one, "Mr.Wilson" is a cool story that reads more modern than 1890. And is a fun source that says $65 was 1,300 glasses of (presumably cheap) beer in 1890! 🗃️ www.loc.gov/resource/sn9...

Because I've been thinking about soda for the last six months, here's a copy of the National Soda Fountain Guide from 1913. Loads of adverts from the period and some good industry info! I cant tell if Malo-Creme is good or a horror show. #c20th 🗃️ 🍜 dn720700.ca.archive.org/0/items/nati...

I can finally reveal why this account has been on hiatus for the summer... I've been working on a piece for the New York Times on the 1980s cola space race! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/s... Its been a great experience working with the Times editors on this. #nasa #space #coke #pepsi

Just a heads up to everyone that I'm going to go into low-power mode here until the summer. I've got a lot of writing projects on the go, one of which I'm really excited about and will reveal more when/if it's a done deal. I'm diving in, I'll be back in the summer!

The Abdul Hamid II Collection at the LOC is a really awesome and extensive collection of photos from the late #c19th Ottoman Empire. Its a great, diverse visual resource for that period and is somehting you could get lost for hours in. 🗃️ www.loc.gov/collecti...

The Imperial Ironclad Frigates Hamidiye, Osmaniye and Aziziye seen during equipping late #c19th This is part of a much larger collection of photographs of the late Ottoman Empire. A really great visual resource for people studying that period. LOC lccn.loc.gov/2003674603

Margate Pier, late #c19th It's a cool shot. It's interesting how the pier branches out. LOC flic.kr/p/eLRKfM

Map of Hawaii "Unsurveyed and very imperfectly known", late #c18th or #c19th includes A detail of Honolulu, when it was quite small. Its hi-res and worth a look! LOC www.loc.gov/resource...

Fireworks over the Brooklyn Bridge, 1983 #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/2nvwypb

Machine shop instruction, 1920s I just think this photo is rad as hell, and will hopefully inspire some artist or #illustrator I'm just worried about their ties! #c20th 📸 LOC flic.kr/p/zki7Pm

Pamphlet about the first passenger train in the US. I love source from the past that look back even further! History about history! #c19th 🗃️ 🚂 LOC flic.kr/p/2qg8DSt

Animal locomotion diagram, 1887 I've seen the one from the side before, but the one from the back is new to me. #c19th 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/mKY1rM

Replastering an adobe house, NM, 1940. I love this as a photo and a record of a domestic process. I guess this is still done if adobe buildings are still around. #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/6pAPke

A dog photo bombs a rather serious picture of strikers, Utica, NY 1910s It looks like the dog is shaking water off it's body, and it's hard not to chuckle when you see this picture. #c20th 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/4i9nTv

Panoramic view of crew of USS Mount Vernon, 1918. I love the perspective the panorama creates on the ship. 📸 #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/5zEnxS

Captured mine-laying German submarine, late 1910s #milhist #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/wKAyZG

Long exposure of a railroad departure yard at dusk, 1942 Looks almost like one of those light sculptures that were all the rage a few years ago! #c20th 🗃️📸🚂 #railroads LOC flic.kr/p/4jyVAd

Women inspecting aircraft wings, Douglas Aircraft factory, 1942. These OWI pictures are very posed and not representative, but this one is great as a photo. #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/4jCGcE

Mother Goose Market, Kentucky, 1979 Very strong Fallout vibes here. Love it when you build your brand into the actual building. #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/29t9ci7

Shop front, 1942. Nothing about this except I love it as a photo. #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/4jCHz5

Berry pickers quarters and cooking shacks, Baltimore, MD, late #c19th These images were meant to shock, but also exposed the harsh conditions agricultural workers faced at the time. Factories were bad, but so we're fields 🗃️ #roadpeople LOC flic.kr/p/daFofM

Public Landry, Genoa, Italy late #c19th I'm always struck by how vertical Italian cities seem compared to other European cities. 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/8bjY46

Street in Guildford, UK, late #c19th. I'm not sure what the thing hanging over the street is. I find it ironic that some of the best images of late Victorian UK are in the US Library of Congress. 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/e8Qege

Maps of Sir Francis Drake's West Indian Voyage, late #c16th This is a great collection of maps and illustrations of the early colonial period. 🗃️ LOC www.loc.gov/resource...

Detail from map of Francis Drake's West Indian Voyage, late 16th century. That body of water has been named after Mexico for centuries. #c16th 🗃️ LOC www.loc.gov/resource...

Help me identify this WWII soldier for a story I'm writing. My deadline is Feb. 14. The portrait was made between 1943 & 1945 in Pittsburgh's Hill District. He has a rifle medal on his chest, Service Forces patch & a Corps of Engineers insignia on his hat. Please repost & help me ID him. 🗃️

Street in St. Croix, Virgin Islands 1941. I'm really digging these pictures of the Caribbeanin the 1940s! #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/4juHNM

Corn exhibit, allegedly the greatest one ever, 1904. #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/2m8TFcq#c20th

Corn Water Tower, Rochester MN, 1988. Some weird and wonderful Americana! #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/2ojWzSF#c20th

View of Hastings, UK, late #c19th I wrote a lot about Hastings in my book, it was a base for smugglers and the people that tried to catch them. It even had its own gang, the Hastings Outlaws! 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/e8VTqU

I love these early photo manipulations. These are clearly tongue in cheek, but I wonder if people outside the Midwest believed them! Probably a good social studies lesson in this photo! 1908 #c20th 📸 #socialstudies LOC flic.kr/p/2m8YW7u

Dock Street Market, Philadelphia, PA circa 1910. I'm reading Jim Tully's hobo memoire and I love his description of Philadelphia. Wikipedia commons commons.m.wikimedia.... #c20th #Pennsylvania 🗃️

San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1941. I just love the picture, so I'm posting it. #c20th 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/4jyKGy

Labor's Burden, a political cartoon from 1900. Seems strange given the current political climate now, but there was a real movement against the gold standard in the 1890s. #c19th 🗃️ LOC lccn.loc.gov/sn82016354

The Schomburg Tintype collection has a lot of digital copies of early photographs of African Americans and Indigenous Americans from mid #c19th. Some really evocative portraits in there. New York Public Library. archives.nypl.org/sc...

Map showing positions of Union and Rebel forces Sept, 1861 I'm having way too much fun browsing the LOC collection of high res maps. It's not super analytical, but i just love them at artefacts and #illustration pieces. #c19th #ACW 🗃️ #maps www.loc.gov/item/gvh...

I know the standards for medical advertising weren't very high in 1900, but I'm pretty sure no one believed this ad even back then... Though having a healing beer sounds pretty good! #c20th #advertising 🗃️ LOC lccn.loc.gov/sn82016354

WW1 war bonds poster, 1918. This is clearly modeled after the statue of liberty, but it weird to think that when this poster was created, that landmark was only about 30 years old. #c20th #ww1 #posters 🗃️ LOC flic.kr/p/2pDn5f1

Plan for Anchorage, AK, 1915. I thought this was some sort of data table when i first saw it, but it is actually a map! It looks like one of those city builder games. #cities #maps #alaska 🗃️ LOC lccn.loc.gov/2021589557

Phone bank, LaGuardia Airport, 1981. I think this is just a cool moment in time. Feels like a real crossroads of eras. #c20th LOC flic.kr/p/2mYrUnR

A technical guide to Telephones, 1892. Loads of cool illustrations and technical diagrams in this one. I'm really amazed at how primitive these look now, but they were once high tech stuff! #c19th 🗃️ #tech Google Books www.google.co.uk/boo...

Twelfth Army Group situation map, #otd 80 years ago. 15th January, 1945. This is high-res, zoomable map, that captures a moment just before the end of a long war. 🗃️ #ww2 #c20th LOC www.loc.gov/resource...