Guarding Capone
This 1940 architectural plan for improvements to the U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz shows details and the locations of two new guard towers. Situated on an island in...
High above the Golden Gate
This 1953 aerial photograph shows the Golden Gate Bridge, linking San Francisco and Marin County, California. When this photograph was taken, the bridge had been open...
Hitchcock petitions
At 55, Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, a British subject, applied for naturalization, listing his occupation as “movie producer and director.” He became a United States...
Integrating women into a peacetime military
In 1948, Congress passed the “Women's Armed Services Integration Act,” allowing women to serve in the military during peacetime for the first time in U.S....
“King of Chrysanthemums”
Dorothea Lange photographed successful chrysanthemum grower Ryohitsu Shibuya and his family at their home in Mountain View, California, on April 18, 1942. Days later,...
Lower Yosemite Falls
So spectacular are the landscapes of California’s Yosemite Valley that in 1861 San Francisco photographer Carleton Watkins invented in 1861 a larger format to...
Musician’s declaration
Russian-born pianist, conductor, and composer Igor Stravinsky is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He immigrated to the United...