A Ballad for the Fair (1964)

The 1964 film A Ballad for the Fair gives a tour of the 1964 New York World's Fair, with a heavy emphasis on communications technology. Produced by Bell System, you are even treated to a taste of the Bell System ride. You can watch the entire film below or just check out the futurism aspects at Paleo-Future.

And did we mention the folk singing? Oh, the folk singing!

The DVD set 1964 World's Fair at Extinct Attractions contains the film.

Georgia (circa 1940)

Georgia oat field? Southern U.S.

Early color photography of the 1940s certainly has a unique quality that is difficult to describe. Such interesting saturation is what seems to be the most striking. You can find out more about this image at the Library of Congress website.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)
Arkansas (1935)
California (1943)
Colorado (1859)
Connecticut (1961)
Delaware (1910)
Florida (circa 1910)

Florida (circa 1910)

Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Fla.

You can find out more about this image at the Library of Congress website.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)
Arkansas (1935)
California (1943)
Colorado (1859)
Connecticut (1961)
Delaware (1910)

Delaware (1910)

2 newsgirls. Location: Wilmington, Delaware.

You can find out more about this image at the Library of Congress website.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)
Arkansas (1935)
California (1943)
Colorado (1859)
Connecticut (1961)

Connecticut (1961)

[Managers office, parking garage, New Haven, Connecticut. Scheme A ("square"). Rendering]

This proposed New Haven, Connecticut office was rendered by architect Paul Rudolph in 1961. You can find out more about this image at the Library of Congress website.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)
Arkansas (1935)
California (1943)
Colorado (1859)

Colorado (1859)

Drawing shows a dirt trail among pine trees leading toward a heavily forested pass between snow-capped mountains. This pass, near present-day Ft. Collins, Colorado, heads north toward the Oregon and California Trail. This was camp 59 for Jenks' party on Tuesday, June 7, 1859. He wrote of that day's camp, "Our wagons had to be chained to keep them in their places, the hillside was so steep."

You can learn more about this image, as well as download a larger version, at the Library of Congress site.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)
Arkansas (1935)
California (1943)

California (1943)

Loading oranges into a refrigerator car at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Santa Fe R.R. trip

You can find out more about this image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)
Arkansas (1935)

Arkansas (1935)

Son of destitute Ozark family, Arkansas

You can learn more about this image here.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)
Arizona (circa 1885)

Arizona (circa 1885)

Bird's eye view of Phoenix Maricopa Co. Arizona, view looking north-east / sketched by C. J. Dyer, Phoenix, A.T. ; W. Byrnes, litho. S.F.

You can find out more about this lithograph, along with an enormous downloadable version (214 MB), here.

See also:
Alabama (1940)
Alaska (1940s)

Alaska (1940s)

Poster for Thirteenth Naval District, United States Navy, showing a rat representing Japan, approaching a mousetrap labeled "Army Navy Civilian," on a background map of the state of Alaska.

This colorful/racist poster was created for the WPA Art Project between 1941 and 1943. You can read more about the image here.

See also:
Alabama (1940)

Alabama (1940)

Aunt Harriet McClintock, dancing for John A. Lomax as she sang "Shing, Shing," at the crossroads near Sumterville, Ala.

I really don't know what to make of this image. But the blurriness of the image coupled with the ambiguous and distorted expressions of both figures is somehow captivating.

You can find more info about this photograph here.

The United States (Alabama to Wyoming)

I've decided to post (alphabetical by state) interesting images from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection. Hope it's not as boring as it sounds.