Like a duck to water
In 1870, Amos W. Hart of Washington, DC, submitted his patent application for an improved aquatic toy. His application explains that, in addition to propelling itself...
Looking down at Cape Hatteras, NC
This aerial photograph of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, was taken on October 21, 1940. It shows roads, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and the small town of Buxton.
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...
Old Faithful erupts
Famed photographer Ansel Adams took this photograph of the “Old Faithful” geyser erupting in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming in the early 1940s. Adams was...
Pearl Harbor, January 1941
This aerial photograph shows the naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii (then the Territory of Hawaii), on January 17, 1941. The U.S. Navy was in the process of...
Preparing for an air raid
Sailors man four 20 mm cannons on the starboard afterdeck of the U.S.S. Indiana on May 28, 1945. The battleship was commissioned in 1942 and saw action in the...
Provincetown from above
This image of Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the tip of Cape Cod, was taken on July 25, 1952. The town lies along the coast of the Provincetown Harbor, pictured on...