The Montgomery Guard

He is a queer bundle of contradictions at all times. Drunk and foul-mouthed, ready to cut the throat of a defenceless stranger at the toss of a cent, fresh from beating his decent mother black and blue to get money for rum, he will resent as an intolerable insult the imputation that he is “no gentleman.” Fighting his battles with the coward’s weapons, the brass-knuckles and the deadly sand-bag, or with brick-bats from the housetops, he is still in all seriousness a lover of fair play, and as likely as not, when his gang has downed a policeman in a battle that has cost a dozen broken heads, to be found next saving a drowning child or woman at the peril of his own life. It depends on the angle at which he is seen, whether he is a cowardly ruffian, or a possible hero with different training and under different social conditions.
- How the Other Half Lives, Jacob A. Riis

New York City - 1880s - Jacob A. Riis - Preus Museum

Plenty more like this, inside.

Childhood is really such a recent invention.

Morgantown, West Virginia - 1908 - @ The Library of Congress

Lazy Bones

Accordion party on a shantyboat? It's like they could see my dreams. 

The Caloosahatchee River between Fort Myers and Clewiston - Florida - 1947 - @ Florida Memory

jongensclub

I can't figure out what the hell that kid is trying to do, but everyone looks very intent about it. 

1960 - @ janwillemsen

The Rain Shelter

What do you suppose it was like in there? A little chilly all the time and a little stone bench to sit on?

Mt. Monadnock, New Hampshire

1910s, photographer Bion Whitehouse

@ Keene Public Library and the Historic Society of Cheshire County

Stilt House Under Construction

It takes a certain kind of person to look at the ocean and say, "Yes, I am going to build a house on that." 

Pasco County, Florida

1963

from The History of Pasco County

Creep

Instructions: Enlarge photo, examine. Explain what the hell I'm looking at.

Chicago, Illinois

1964

from Chuckman's Photos

Neighbors

Heck of a playground at that trailer park.

no information available

from Jalopy Journal

light station on stilts

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I want to live there. I want to survive storms in that home.

Key West, FL

1949

from The Florida Memory Project,

seen at Florida Fresh and Other Slices

Mount

Someday we'll carve the face of the Moon.

Mt. Rushmore

1935

from Stephen Feeney's flickr

If she smokes, she pokes.

Reece Witherspoon, have you been time traveling again?

no information available

from Jalopy Journal

Family Fun

The official description says this is two women and five men, but I'm seeing four women and three men. What say you?

Blount County, Tennessee

1918, photographer A. Randolph Shields

from Blount County Appalachian Photograph Archive

Blustery

This seems like either a dangerous outing or a missed opportunity for a sail.

Niobrara State Park, Nebraska

1928

from 4delos

Valeriy V. Polyakov

When you live in space, this is what your house looks like.

Mir Space Station

1994

from The Atlantic

all in a line

What was the rest of this kid's life like? It's always funny to think about how normal anything can seem when that's what you are used to.

no information available

seen at Black and WTF, 

which I think you'd enjoy

Strange Blue Lake is Strangely Blue

Seriously, y'all, that is one blue lake. I don't know why I love this photo so much, but I do. I want to swim in it, except that I expect it to be like swimming in paint.

Ohio

from Gyro.Pilot's flickr stream

Joseph Shaw, age 73 y

I am honestly surprised that I have not, as yet, ever lived in a similar structure. I want to see the inside.

Nome Beach, Alaska

1905

from Alaska's Digital Archives

Hooverville

Wasn't all that long ago, really. Maybe just yesterday.

Seattle, Washington

1930s

from Vintage Seattle

Fort Hell

As a kid, I drew these huge, unlikely, sprawling, underground tunnel maps. Entire warrens of bedrooms, kitchens, storage space, booby traps, whatever I could think up and fit in. To me, this looks like the entrance to just such a world.

Petersburg, Virgina

1865, photographer Alexander Gardner

from the NYPL

sleeps long and laughs

I wouldn't mind having that on a t-shirt, to be honest. Or it might make a good embroidery project for someone who does that sort of thing.

Georgia O'Keeffe's letterhead

1929

from Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,

seen at Letterheady