These young men are patent clerks.

They were photographed in 1924 on the third floor of the Patent Office Building on F Street in Washington, D.C., in a room often called “the model room.”

The Patent Office Building was then almost one hundred years old; and it had been the place where much of the American story had unfolded.

Initially, the building housed inventors’ patent applications and scale models of their inventions, which were displayed for the public in glass-fronted cabinets.

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A ‘take-no-prisoners’ bison hunting party in Denver, 1873. Note the size of the bullets on these guys’ belts and the bison head on the far right.

The Republican Party of Jefferson County, Washington, 1888. Three more decades before women get the vote, so, of course, it’s all men.

Wisconsin yachting party on Lake Winnebago, 1892.

Somber wedding party of Austrian immigrants in Ely, Minnesota, 1911. Note the guy with the cigar seated on the far left. And then there’s the bride’s far-apart shoes.

Little Ida’s baby party, Jefferson County, Washington, 1901. Note the exhausted mom at the top of the stairs.

nning party, Georgia, 1916. My German grandmother and her sisters used

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Some pictures stick with you.

Here are the ones from last week, which we posted here on Substack or on our Bluesky page or on our YouTube Channel, which have stuck with me:

A new stove in 1910.

Building a lock on the Panama Canal, c. 1913.

Mom makes biscuits in the kitchen during the Depression.

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With a break in soggy weather, US forces launched a combined air and ground attack along a wide line between St. Lo and Periers in the western section of the Normandy battle front.

But the Secretary of War, having completed a tour of the front lines, warned that ‘the end of the war in Europe is not now apparent to the men doing the fighting,’ adding, ‘Germany and Japan will not surrender until it is made clear to them that they are about to be smashed.’

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Even in the worst of times, people find ways to make themselves happy.

Often, they draw closer to their people.

Or, sometimes, it comes with the recognition of small miracles in their own backyard.

Few would say the late 1930s and early 1940s were happy times.

Yet, in one of history’s darkest eras, there were joyful moments.

Here are some of them.

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Half of the Black people who came to America in chains arrived in Charleston’s harbor.

They came in groups of several hundred after weeks-long voyages in the bowels of cramped ships.

They disembarked at a slave facility offshore on Sullivan’s Island.

There, they were checked for disease and then transferred to the mainland for auctioning at Charleston’s slave markets.

White Charlestonians sometimes came to watch and enjoy wine and refreshments offered by the auction houses.

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Do you think you’ve got troubles?

You’re not the only one.

Take a look:

So, it’s 1910 and we have two guys between the cars of a freight train trying to hit each other with tire irons.

We can assume they’re on the lam, but what are they fighting about?

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Some pictures stick with you.

Here are the ones from last week, which we posted here on Substack or on our Bluesky page or on our YouTube Channel, which have stuck with me:

This bull shot dead in Central Park after escaping from the vehicle hauling him to the slaughterhouse.

Sometimes in life there are no good options.

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The Soviet army is in retreat as German forces, spearheaded by mechanized columns, press their offensive east towards Moscow and Leningrad.

The Germans have held Smolensk, 230 miles west of Moscow, for four days, and have repulsed fierce Red Army counter-attacks.

There are large numbers of casualties on both sides.

The German air force struck the city of Hull, on England’s northeast coast, yesterday, inflicting heavy damage in residential areas.

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They are one of life’s best things.

Here are a few dog stories from history.

Queen Victoria owned eighty-eight Border Collies during her long life. Her favorite was Sharp, who came into the royal household in 1866, after the death of her husband, Prince Albert.

At the end of her life, it was a Pomeranian named Turi who comforted her. It is said Victoria died with her eldest grandchild, the future German Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Turi, at her bedside.

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