H.D. McCracken, a self-proclaimed "creative Texan," built this wooden contraption and mounted it to a Model T chassis. He and his wife took this converted camper across the country, going wherever they pleased and stopping wherever they wished. The McCrackens were two of many Americans who answered the call of the open road following World War I.
(1916 Ford Model T, photograph taken 1921.)

The grand staircase at the Paris Opera, 1948.

She was beautiful and extremely talented. But more importantly she was a model human being - kind, hard working, warm, humorous, generous, and a strong confident woman who carried herself with grace, dignity and decency. The world lost her 7 years ago. Maureen O’Hara, May your kind be held in the highest esteem by generations to come.

Viola LaLonde and Elizabeth Van Tuyl pose beside a Ford automobile before making their cross-country drive from Washington, DC to San Francisco. (June, 1922.) In a time before sophisticated freeways, staggered convenience stations and gps, this must have been a wild adventure for these two young girls.

A moment of daily life in Whitby, England otherwise forgotten, recorded forever.

Women bootleggers and the tools of their trade. [Prohibition - 1920 to 1933.]

The beautiful hair, textiles, and accessories of Miss Lily Elsie. (1912)

1908 fashion captured by Horace W. Nicholls.

Dear Veterans,
Thank you!

May we never lose the creativity and ambition of childhood.

DID YOU KNOW....
...the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls was a woman?
...and that she did it on her 63rd birthday?
Upon surviving, Annie Edson Taylor was quoted as saying:

"If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat... I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon, knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the Fall."

She lived another 20 years dying at the age of 83.

An unsung hero get the most rewarding kiss. (1945)

Pre iPad learning.

Alfred Buckham is considered the pioneer of aerial photography. Pictures like this view of Edinburgh in 1920 are as impressive as his record of surviving 9 crashes. Most of his images were taken standing up, as he was quoted: "If one's right leg is tied to the seat with a scarf or a piece of rope, it is possible to work in perfect security."

Interior shots typically include many details that tell the story of daily life. This one takes us back to the 1860s.

Attitude is indeed everything.

The look in 1927.

Can you imagine moving and entire house....using horses?
(San Francisco, 1908)

A nostalgic look at Christmas preparations in London, 1915.

This 1936 photograph comes with a very heavy caption:
"One-room hut housing a family of nine built on the chassis of an abandoned Ford in a field between Camden and Bruceton, Tennessee, near the river."

An immigrant family at New York's Ellis Island about to embark on the chase of their dreams. So many Americans can connect with this. This could be anyone's ancestors standing there.

New York in the midst of the 1888 blizzard. 50 inches of snow fell over a three day period with drifts over 40 feet that covered houses. So singular it its severity, it was called the Great Blizzard of 1888.

A quiet moment of rest in the heart of the great depression (library of congress)

Styling ladies of the 1940s.

Rest In Peace, Hank Aaron.
From humble beginnings he broke barriers and Major League Baseball records - all with humility and a mild mannered grace rarely found among the high profilers after him.

The ladies of the family, 1912.

Nessim Menashe in front of his new and secondhand shoe store in Northwest Portland, which operated until 1921. Circa 1916.

Courtesy Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education.

Delicate femininity, not without a level of discomfort.

Fetching groceries with mom meant dressing the part too on this day. (1940s)

Just married, 1931.

Paul Newman. Born in1925, in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Woodstock in Bethel, New York.

It takes so very little to have a reason to smile. As we are a week into the month of November, let's remember to truly be thankful.

A railroad track inspector assisted by man’s best coworker.

The early days of the selfie. (1900)

Youth lasts forever...until it's gone. Hold on to your memories in your heart, and if you're lucky, in photographs. (1943)

“Not taking a risk is a risk. That's how I see it.” -Robert Redford

Bourbon Street and Ursulines Avenue circa 1925. “New Orleans organ grinder.”
by Arnold Genthe.

Construction of New York’s iconic flatiron building, 1902.

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than strolling around the great outdoors with people that you love? Maybe even stop along the way and snap a few photos. "Alright, let's take a silly one!". Just know that when you do, you are in good company of all the fun loving folks of the past.

A gaze in to Paris, 101 years ago.

Raising a baby used to mean boiling diapers. (1943)

Shrewsbury, MO, around 1945.
1940 Ford Woody Wagon.
The tires were bald because nearly ALL tires were worn out by the end of WWII. They were rationed along with gasoline, butter, shoes, sugar, coffee and more.
Photo privately held.

Today's reason to be thankful: you're not doing your laundry on the street by hand with water from a hydrant during a war. (1945, Berlin, Germany)

Thanks to photographers of the past, we can view places like the Hexagon House Hotel which was built in 1895 and dismantled in 1959 for its building materials. (Mineral Wells, Texas.)

The 20s are just days away!

New York's skyline of the 1920s.

In July of 1936, Arthur Rothstein took this photograph near Missoula, Montana. He included the following:

"Vernon Evans (with his family) of Lemmon, South Dakota. Leaving grasshopper-ridden and drought-stricken area for a new start in Oregon or Washington. Expects to arrive at Yakima in time for hop picking. Live in tent. Makes about two hundred miles a day in Model T Ford."

Drive on, Vernon. Drive on!

Chillicothe, Ohio in 1940. Photo by Arthur Rothstein.

When snow was our best friend. (1929, Chicago)

Here's to the moms that do it all. (1955)

Window shopping, 1920.

Title: Ozark Mountains, Missouri.
1940 by John Vachon

Good, old fashioned, cell phone free fun. (1919)

A look in to a 1914 kitchen and rib roast enjoyed 107 years ago.

The locals hang out on the portch of the Crossroads store. (Sprott, Alabama. 1935 or 1936) by Walker Evans.

Planes fly between the towers and pedestrians cross as part of the celebration of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in May of 1937.

Home sweet home.

Their piece of the American Dream.

Headlines were made when they were built. The world changed when they came down.
Never forget.
(Photo: 1969)

We have all heard the negative comments on depression era photos. Yes the times were hard, that's a given. But, instead of the first impression comments, can we all look deeper? What about the smiles you can almost see? Do you remember what dusty planks feel like on bare feet? The dull "thud thud" of the dasher in the churn and the way it changes as the butter makes. What kind of bread do you think it will go on? Biscuits? Or maybe hot golden cornbread, made with coarse ground meal and a hint of sweetness. Melting and swirling in a pool of thick sticky molasses until it's the color of honey. After the last crumb is gone, running the kids back off to play in the shade of the yard while the women clean up and chat. The hardships are always the first to be seen, but if we just dig deeper, what memories lie just beneath the surface?

Happy Mother's Day to all the irreplaceable moms out there. To be loved by mom is to be given the world.
(Photo date, 1900)

In the cold, late winter months when it seems like spring will never come again, nothing can feel better than opening a jar of last summers produce. All of the hard work showcased on rough board shelves deep back in a basement or cellar. Do you remember this? Perhaps your mother, or grandmother working all summer long to insure well stocked shelves for the winter. The certain feel of the cool air as you went down to fetch a certain jar. Peaches, green beans, tomatoes and many others. What memories does this picture bring back for you?

No batteries, WiFi, passwords or subscriptions required. Just real world fun.

“Daughter of white tobacco sharecropper at country store. Person County, North Carolina.”
By Dorothea Lange - July, 1939.

A Santa sighting over main street captured in 1940.

Do-it-yourself toy horse. (1890s)

“Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.”
-Oscar Wilde