Antique & Retro
Photography

Christ's Church steeple with a clock and belfry dominates the background, identifying the scene as Boston circa 1880. The street is lined with narrow 19th-century rowhouses, a mix of clapboard and brick facades with operable shutters and dormer windows, suggestive of Federal or Georgian-influenced urban architecture. Men in long Victorian overcoats and bowler or top hats are visible at street level, and a horse-drawn carriage appears to be at the far end of the street; a wall-mounted gas street lamp is also visible, reinforcing the late 19th-century date. No motor cars are evident in the frame, consistent with the era, and the glass-slide image shows period wear such as dust specks and light fading.

A beached sail-powered workboat appears to be a small dory or beach-landing skiff with a lug sail and a prominent bowsprit, likely used for inshore fishing in coastal New England. A boy wearing a knit cap peeks from the bow while a man in woolen work clothes and a flat cap stands on the sand holding heavy tow ropes. The hull bears a partially legible painted name that appears to read "...FRIGATE", and the canvas sail shows patches and coiled hawsers consistent with early commercial fishing gear. Archivist notes indicate a 4x5 glass-negative capture, placing the scene circa the late 19th to early 20th century with period-typical working apparel and rigging.

A four-door sedan that appears to be a Ford Model A, circa late 1920s, dominates the foreground; identifiable features include the upright radiator grille, separate round headlamps, running boards, and a front license plate reading 67-535. A woman wearing a cloche-style hat and a long overcoat with a fur collar stands at the driver-side door, her attire likely dating to the late 1920s to early 1930s. In the midground a second period coupe is parked along a tree-lined street, and the background shows multi-story houses that appear to be Colonial Revival or vernacular New England residential architecture. The image likely captures a small-town New England scene where automobile ownership is presented as a prominent marker of status and modernity.

Heavy timber lattice sidewalls suggest a Town-style lattice truss bridge, appears to be late 19th to early 20th century in construction. Massive timber trestle piers and a stone abutment are visible beneath the deck, which likely carried either a rural roadway or a railroad track. Stacked logs and rough-sawn timbers on the near bank strongly imply nearby logging or sawmill activity rather than a purely ornamental setting. No people or vehicles are visible in the frame, emphasizing the industrial and transport function of the structure.

Three-masted sailing ship appears to be a late 19th-century barque with yards furled and a pronounced clipper-style bow, moored at a timbered Boston waterfront pier in 1890 from the Briggs Collection. A small steam tug or tender sits alongside the hull, likely steam-driven given its low profile and funnel-like silhouette. Wharf buildings are wooden industrial sheds and a tall hoist or coal elevator appears on the quay, typical of Victorian port infrastructure. A few dockhands in period work clothes, caps and long coats consistent with 1890s labor dress, are visible on deck and the pier, indicating active commercial handling.

A formal studio portrait of five Blackfoot individuals, circa 1890s–early 1900s, wearing traditional regalia including elaborately feathered war bonnets (headdresses with dark and white feathers), hide and cloth garments decorated with geometric patterns and fringe, and shell or bone ornaments. The composition includes three standing figures and two seated; the tallest central figure wears a striking horizontally-striped shirt beneath his headdress. All subjects display the formal, dignified bearing typical of early ethnographic photography. The studio setting and professional lighting are characteristic of late-19th-century portraiture documenting Native American leaders and cultural representatives.

A busy urban thoroughfare framed by a monumental Classical Revival / Beaux-Arts commercial block on the right, with tall Corinthian-style columns and arched windows. Multiple double-truck streetcars run on center tracks, with horse-drawn wagons and what appears to be a few early motorcars sharing the roadway; the transit mix likely dates to circa 1900s-1910s. Pedestrians in Edwardian-era dress populate the sidewalks - men in suits and bowler hats and women in long skirts and large hats - and signage for "Humboldt Savings Bank" is visible on a distant tower. The image is from a glass slide and documents the layered commercial and transit life of a turn-of-the-century American downtown.

A man in a leather driving coat and period helmet stands beside an early 1920s touring automobile, likely a Morris Cowley or similar British light car, identifiable by its distinctive vertical grille, spoke wheels, and compact body design. The vehicle bears the registration plate MU5318 and features a side-mounted spare tire, acetylene headlamps, and an open windscreen typical of the era. The motorist wears authentic early-1920s motoring attire—a long leather duster coat and leather flying-style helmet—standard protective wear for open-air motoring of this period. The rural setting shows bare deciduous trees and stone walls characteristic of British countryside, with rolling hills visible in the background. The photograph appears to be a professional or semi-professional studio portrait celebrating automotive enthusiasm, circa 1920–1925.

A busy urban thoroughfare framed by a monumental Classical Revival / Beaux-Arts commercial block on the right, with tall Corinthian-style columns and arched windows. Multiple double-truck streetcars run on center tracks, with horse-drawn wagons and what appears to be a few early motorcars sharing the roadway; the transit mix likely dates to circa 1900s-1910s. Pedestrians in Edwardian-era dress populate the sidewalks - men in suits and bowler hats and women in long skirts and large hats - and signage for "Humboldt Savings Bank" is visible on a distant tower. The image is from a glass slide and documents the layered commercial and transit life of a turn-of-the-century American downtown.

A man in a leather driving coat and period helmet stands beside an early 1920s touring automobile, likely a Morris Cowley or similar British light car, identifiable by its distinctive vertical grille, spoke wheels, and compact body design. The vehicle bears the registration plate MU5318 and features a side-mounted spare tire, acetylene headlamps, and an open windscreen typical of the era. The motorist wears authentic early-1920s motoring attire—a long leather duster coat and leather flying-style helmet—standard protective wear for open-air motoring of this period. The rural setting shows bare deciduous trees and stone walls characteristic of British countryside, with rolling hills visible in the background. The photograph appears to be a professional or semi-professional studio portrait celebrating automotive enthusiasm, circa 1920–1925.

Broad's Ford in Hudson, Massachusetts, photographed in 1916, occupies a single-story brick commercial showroom with large display windows, double wood-and-glass entrance doors, and a low stepped parapet typical of early 20th-century automotive architecture. Ford script transom signs and a circular Ford emblem over the central entrance identify the franchise; a reflected vehicle visible in the window appears to be an early Ford sedan, likely a Model T. The archive attribution lists Aldrich as the photographer, and records note the business later became Grant's store while the dealership reportedly remained a Ford franchise until roughly 1984. A utility pole with a small number plate stands near the sidewalk and the name BROAD'S is carved into the stone lintel above the doors.

The Woods Sq Motors garage in Hudson Mass.

This is an amazing large format shot please look at the enlarged version.

The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. Hudson Mass 1916 Campbell's soup for 8c!

Wisconsin Collection 1906 Camel back indian motorcycle.

Hunting scene in WI.with indian bikes pre 1920 part of a collection of photos