The Two Girls Waffle House was located in the tent city on the north side of Ship Creek in what is now Anchorage, Alaska.

This photo, called “The Cow Boy,” was taken by former miner John C. H. Grabill,  is still considered to be one of the most realistic depictions of cowboys.  Notice the leather chaps and the cloth neck wrap he’s wearing to keep cool.

Bea served as a SSgt, USMC 1943-45 during WW II.  After enlisting, she was assigned as typist at Marine HQ in Wash DC, then air stations in VA and NC.  Best remembered for her title role in the TV series "Maude" and as Dorothy in "Golden Girls".

Emily Todd was Mary Todd Lincoln's half-sister.  In 1856 she married Benjamin Helm, a Confederate general.  After Helm's death in 1863 Emily Helm passed through Union Lines to visit her sister in the White House.  This caused great consternation in the Northern newspapers.  Emily Helm took an oath of loyalty to the Union and was granted amnesty.

Three days before his 19th birthday, George H.W. Bush became the youngest aviator in the US Navy.

NOTICE:

President Bush became what he believed to be the youngest aviator in the U.S. Navy - and he was at the time of his commissioning.  I also believed that, but have learned differently.

For years, the former President, a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber pilot, thought he was the youngest Naval Aviator of the war, but Chuck Downey, of Poplar Grove, Illinois, has the President beat by 11 days, a fact the President has since acknowledged.

Downey was born Aug. 2, 1924, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy on July 16, 1943.  He earned his Wings of Gold at the tender age of 18 years, 11 months and 14 days and later flew SB2C Helldiver dive bombers off the carrier U.S.S. Ticonderoga.  You can read more about Mr. Downey at The Youngest Naval Aviator of WWII

NOTE:Mr. Downey passed away on February 19, 2016.

Walter Reed Hospital flu ward.  One of the very few images in Washington area photo archives documenting the influenza contagion of 1918-1919, which killed over 500,000 Americans and tens of millions around the globe.  Most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection.

NOTICE:

It has come to my attention that this cannot possibly be a real photograph of Sacajawea, as she died prior to the invention of photography.  My best guess is that this is a photo of a wax museum piece, or a staged/posed recreation.

Late Breaking:

I have learned that this is a studio portrait owned by the Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library, and was made in 1884 or 1885.  It is actually Mary Enos, a Native American (Shoshone) woman, and a baby in a cradleboard.  Thanks to Walter Graham.  In any event, I'm leaving it up.

Sacajawea - Stolen, held captive and sold, eventually reunited the Shoshone Indians.  She was an interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark in 1805-1806 with her husband Toussaint Charbonneau. She navigated carrying her son, Jean Baptiste, on her back.  She traveled thousands of miles from the Dakotas to the Pacific Ocean.  The explorers said she was cheerful, never complained, and proved to be invaluable.  She served as an adviser and caretaker, and she is legendary for her perseverance and resourcefulness.

NOTICE:

I must apologize for having used the wrong name (Geraldine Doyle) for this photo for several years.  This was brought to my attention by a visitor, (Julie Jimenez), who offered proof of her contention with this web page from Harpers Bazaar magazine.  As you can see, I was not alone in this mis-identification.  Thank you, Julie!

Chief Petty Officer Graham Jackson plays "Going Home" as FDR's body is borne past in Warm Springs, GA, where the President was scheduled to attend a barbecue on the day he died.

Citation (Library of Congress): Barnard, George N, photographer. Atlanta, Ga. Wagon train on Marietta Street. Atlanta Georgia United States, 1864. Photograph.

Bonnie and Clyde's car following the shootout that ended the two outlaws rampage through the south west.  The gunfire barrage was so loud that many members of the posse experienced temporary deafness.

Civil War veteran Samuel Decker poses with the prosthetic arms he made for himself... somehow.  Perhaps with his teeth?

American soldiers hunker down in a trench less than a mile away from the detonation of a 43 kiloton nuclear bomb.

The first known sports team photo ever taken, the 1858 Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, Hoboken, New Jersey.

Eisenhower. Bradley and Patton examine a trove of stolen artifacts that the Germans hid in salt mine.

An American field hospital in the bombed out remains of a French church.

Although not a true historical photo, this is intended to illustrate the advances in communications technology in the space of a mere 57 years (less than my life time).  For thousands of years, the horse was the fastest way to send a written message.  But then, due to technology, the pace increased by more than 2000 times.  This happened as we moved from 40 miles per day on horseback, at end of the Pony Express in 1861 to 100 miles per hour in an airplane, with the inception of Air Mail service in 1918.

A mountain of bison skulls ready to be ground into fertilizer.  This picture was taken in the 1880s at the Michigan Carbon Works in Detroit, and the original of this image is at the Burton Collection of the Detroit Public Library.  This additional information thanks to Le Roy G. Barnett, PhD.

Lewis Powell, taken by Alexander Gardner shortly before Powell's execution (on 7 July 1865), as a co-conspirator in Lincoln's Assassination.