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The
Central Arizona Project Aqueduct is a diversion canal in
Arizona in the United States. The
aqueduct diverts water from the
Colorado River from
Lake Havasu City into central and southern Arizona.
The Central Arizona Project is a multipurpose water resource development and management project that was designed to provide water to nearly one million acres of Indian and non-Indian
irrigated agricultural land areas as well as
municipal water for several Arizona communities.
Scars of a whipped slave named Peter, photo taken at
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1863. In his own words, "Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer." The slave pictured here escaped from a plantation in
Mississippi, made his way to Union forces, and joined the U.S. Army at the Union garrison located at Baton Rouge.
Slavery in the United States began soon after the
English colonists first settled in North America. From about the 1640s until 1865, people of African descent were legally enslaved within the boundaries of the present U.S. mostly by
whites, but also by a comparatively tiny number of
American Indians and free
blacks. By 1860, the slave population in the U.S. had grown to 4 million.
A surfer off the coast of
Santa Cruz, California, is performing a "cutback", or very sharp turn. Santa Cruz and the surrounding
Northern California coastline is a popular surfing destination; however, the year-round low temperature of the
Pacific Ocean in that region (averaging 57 °F or 14 °C) necessitates the use of
wetsuits.
Steam locomotives of the
Chicago and North Western Railway in the roundhouse at the
Chicago,
Illinoisrail yards, December 1942. Roundhouses are large, circular or semicircular buildings used for servicing locomotives. Due to the advent of newer railway practices, modern roundhouses are frequently not round and are simply service facilities, although they have retained the traditional name.
After being forced to leave the
Philippines after the
Japanese victory in 1942, General
Douglas MacArthur vowed, "I shall return." 31 months later, he waded ashore at Palo Beach at the outset of the Battle of Leyte, fulfilling his pledge as the United States retook the island.
David Herold, one of the
conspirators in the
assassination of U.S. President
Abraham Lincoln, photographed at the
Washington Navy Yard after his arrest in 1865. Herold assisted
John Wilkes Booth to the home of Dr.
Samuel Mudd, where Booth's broken leg (sustained after jumping from the balcony of
Ford's Theatre) was set. He remained with Booth and continually aided him until the authorities caught up with them. Herold surrendered to the police, but Booth refused to lay down his arms and was shot dead. Herold was later
hanged for his role in the plot.
A 1909
panorama of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa was first settled during the 1830s by the
CreekNative American tribe. Shortly before
Oklahoma's statehood on November 16, 1907, oil was discovered nearby and the city played a major role as one of the most important hubs for the American
oil industry, eventually giving the city the nickname "
Oil Capital of the World".
The Trinity nuclear test explosion, .016 seconds after detonation. The fireball is about 200 metres (700 ft) wide. Conducted by the United States on July 16, 1945, at a location 35 miles (56 km) southeast of
Socorro, New Mexico, on what is now
White Sands Missile Range, Trinity was the first
test of technology for a
nuclear weapon.
An 1885
lithograph of a bird's-eye view of the city of Phoenix, Arizona, the
fifth-most-populous city in the United States. The city was founded in 1868 on the site of lands formerly occupied by the
Hohokam, who had abandoned the area roughly 400 years earlier. The name "Phoenix" was chosen as it described a city born from the ruins of a former civilization.
A map of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1775 showing tactical positions from the perspective of the
British Army. The caption in the upper left reads, "A plan of the town of Boston with the intrenchments [sic] &ca. of His Majesty's forces in 1775, from the observations of Lieut. Page of His Majesty's Corps of Engineers, and from those of other gentlemen." Boston in the early 1770s played a major role in sparking the
American Revolution. The
Boston Massacre, the
Boston Tea Party, and several of the early battles of the Revolution (such as the
Battle of Lexington and Concord, the
Battle of Bunker Hill, and the
Siege of Boston) occurred near or in the city.
A 1935 photo of a family of migrant workers in
California, United States, during the
Great Depression. In the United States, the term "migrant worker" is commonly used to describe low-wage workers performing
manual labor in the
agriculture field. During the Great Depression,
Okies who fled the
Dust Bowl were a significant source of temporary farm labor. Outside the U.S., the modern definition of the term by the
United Nations includes anyone working outside of their home country.
A 1908 photo of
child laborers in a
glass factory in
Indiana, United States, taken by
Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee, which formed after the
1900 census revealed that about 1 in 6 children between the ages of five and ten were gainfully employed. Hine's photos of children working in industrial settings resulted in a wave of popular support for
federal child
labor regulations put forward by the NCLC.
Two boys enjoy treats during the 1911
Easter egg roll at the
White House lawn, the highest-profile event on Easter Monday in the United States. The day after
Easter is a holiday in some largely
Christian cultures, especially
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox cultures. The White House Easter egg roll has been held annually since 1814.
An 1881
editorial cartoon of Charles J. Guiteau, an American lawyer who
assassinated President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881. Guiteau, depicted here holding a note that reads "An office or your life!", believed himself to be largely responsible for Garfield's victory, and demanded an
ambassadorship in return, but his requests were rejected. Despite the use of the
insanity defense in his trial, he was found guilty and executed by
hanging on June 30, 1882.
Damage caused by American Airlines Flight 77 to
the Pentagon as a result of the
September 11 attacks. The flight was one of four commercial airliners
hijacked that day, and the
perpetrators crashed it into the building, causing 189 deaths, including all 64 on board the plane. The damaged sections were rebuilt in 2002.
U.S. SenatorHenry Clay gives a speech in the
Old Senate Chamber calling for compromise on the issues dividing the United States. The result was the Compromise of 1850, a package of five
bills, the first two of which were passed on September 9. Ironically, these led to a breakdown in the spirit of compromise in the years preceding the
Civil War, particularly after the deaths of Clay and
Daniel Webster.
This 1898 cartoon from Puck depicts Richard Croker, an American politician who was a leader of New York City's
Tammany Hall, as the sun, with politicians and people from various professions revolving around him. Croker's greatest political success was his bringing about the 1897 election of
Robert A. Van Wyck as first mayor of the five-
borough "greater" New York.
Destruction caused by a natural gas pipeline explosion, which took place on September 9, 2010, in
San Bruno, California, a suburb of
San Francisco. Defective
welds in the pipeline caused the gas to leak, which then caused the explosion. The resulting fire was fed by the
natural gas, hampering emergency efforts, and the fire was not contained until the following day.
The 1933 double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a $20 face value. 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens
double eagle were
minted in 1933, the last year of production for the double eagle, but no specimens ever officially circulated, and nearly all were melted down due to the discontinuance of the domestic
gold standard in 1933. It currently holds the record for the highest price paid at
auction for a single U.S. coin, having been sold for $7.59 million.
The Chicago Theatre is located on North
State Street in the
Loop area of
Chicago. When it opened on October 26, 1921, the 3,880-seat theater was promoted as the "Wonder Theatre of the World". Its
marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography.
A campaign poster from the 1900 United States presidential election for the incumbent
William McKinley, who would eventually win. The poster shows McKinley standing on a gold coin, representing the
gold standard, with support from soldiers, businessmen, farmers and professionals, claiming to restore prosperity at home and victory abroad. The election was a repeat of the
1896 election, pitting McKinley against
William Jennings Bryan.
A pile of American bison skulls, waiting to be ground for
fertilizer; a man stands atop the pile, with another in front of it. Bison, long a staple of
Plains Indian tribal culture, were aggressively hunted by European settlers in the United States, nearly leading to the extinction of the species.
A 1937 photograph of Wes Brady, a former
slave. Born
c. 1850, Brady had been owned by a farmer in
Marshall, Texas before
emancipation. As a young boy he worked the fields, picking cotton. He recalled "The rows was a mile long and no matter how much grass was in them, if you leaves one sprig on your row they beats you nearly to death."
This portrait is part of the Slave Narrative Collection, a massive compilation of
slave narratives – containing 10,000 typed pages representing more than 2,000 interviews – which was undertaken by the US
Federal Writers' Project of the
Works Progress Administration from 1936 to 1938.
A depiction of the Boston Massacre, an incident on March 5, 1770, in which
British Army soldiers killed five male civilians and injured six others in
Boston, Massachusetts. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and charged with murder, though all but two were acquitted; two soldiers were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to branding. During the era of discontent that led to the
American Revolution, this event was used for anti-British propaganda.
Poster: J. Hale Powers & Co. Fraternity & Fine Art Publishers; restoration:
Trialsanderrors
An 1873 print promoting the Grange, the oldest U.S. agricultural advocacy group with a national scope. In 2005 it had 160,000 members.
The central scene shows a farmer with one foot on his shovel, captioned "I Pay for All". From left to right, the top insets show a farmer's fireside and the Grange in session; the bottom ones show a harvest dance, a broken-down cabin signposted "Ignorance" and "Sloth", and a Biblical scene of the
gleanersRuth and
Boaz.
The
check used for the Alaska Purchase, issued on August 1, 1868, and signed by US Secretary of State
William H. Seward. For a total of $7.2 million, the United States government purchased
Russian America from the
Russian Empire (represented here by Russian Minister to the United States
Eduard de Stoeckl). The lands involved became the modern state of
Alaska in 1959.
Lithograph: Calvert Lithographing Company; restoration:
Adam Cuerden
A bird's-eye view showing approximately 3 square miles (8 km2) of the central portion of the city of
Detroit, Michigan, c. 1889. At this time in the city's history, it was a burgeoning home for manufacturing with expanding city limits. Waves of immigrants, predominantly from Europe, came to Detroit, opening businesses and establishing their own communities. However, infrastructure remained lacking; before 1889, only four of the city's roads were paved.
The Point Cabrillo Light is a
lighthouse in northern
California,
United States, between
Point Arena and
Cape Mendocino, just south of the community of
Caspar. It is part of the California state park system as Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park. Completed in 1909, the lighthouse was manned by the
United States Coast Guard from 1939 until it was automated in 1973. Beginning in 1996, the station was restored to the state it would have been in the 1930s.
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A
humanist, he was a part of the transition between
transcendentalism and
realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of
free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass (first published in 1855, but continuously revised until Whitman's death), which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
A lithograph by
Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler showing the town of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, in 1896. Originally part of Burrell (and later
Lower Burrell) Township, the city of New Kensington was founded in 1891. During the public sale held on June 10, 1891, thousands of people came to the area, including a number of investors, including the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which later became
Alcoa. The city continued to grow and, as of 2010, New Kensington has a population of 13,116.
A
lithograph by
Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler and James Moyer showing the town of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1895. Founded in 1849 by the
Pennsylvania Railroad as the site for a shop and maintenance complex, Altoona was incorporated in 1868. It grew rapidly, from a population of approximately 2,000 in 1854 to almost 20,000 in 1880. Presently the Altoona
metropolitan area is home to 127,089, and the local economy has diversified to include
healthcare and
retail.
William H. Seward (1801–1872) was
United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as
Governor of New York and
United States Senator. A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the
American Civil War, he was a dominant figure in the
Republican Party in its formative years, and was generally praised for his work on behalf of the Union as Secretary of State during the
American Civil War. His firm stance against foreign intervention in the Civil War helped deter Britain and France from entering the conflict, which might have led to the independence of the
Confederate States. His contemporary
Carl Schurz described Seward as "one of those spirits who sometimes will go ahead of public opinion instead of tamely following its footprints."
Apollo 11 was the
spaceflight that
landed the first two humans, commander
Neil Armstrong and
LM pilot
Buzz Aldrin, on the
Moon. On July 21, 1969, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. This mission quickly captured the public's imagination and became prominent in popular culture. Over 530 million viewers worldwide watched the Moon landing, and it received widespread newspaper coverage. For example, the July 21, 1969, edition of The Washington Post—shown here—used the main headline "'The Eagle Has Landed'—Two Men Walk on the Moon". In subsequent years, the Moon landing has been frequently depicted or referenced in media, including in literature, films, and video games.
A bird's eye view of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a 1902
lithograph by
Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler. At this point in its history, Pittsburgh was an industrial and commercial powerhouse, with extensive railroad connections to the rest of the United States. Together with the rest of
Allegheny County, it produced massive amounts of steel and steel products: by 1911 they reached 24% of the national output of
pig iron, 34% of
Bessemer steel, 44% of open hearth steel, 53% of
crucible steel, 24% of steel rail, and 59% of structural shape.
Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) was an American soldier and politician who was elected the
19th President of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881.
The election, at the end of the
Reconstruction Era, was highly contentious and he was declared the winner through the
Compromise of 1877. As president he ended Army support for Republican state governments in the South, promoted civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the
Civil War and Reconstruction.
John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, minister and ambassador to foreign nations, and treaty negotiator,
United States Senator,
Congressman from
Massachusetts, and the
sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. Involved in negotiating the treaties of
Ghent,
1818, and
Adams–Onís, Adams has been called one of the United States' greatest diplomats and secretaries of state. As president, he sought to
modernize the American economy and promote education, paying off much of the
national debt despite being stymied by a Congress controlled by opponents and lacking patronage networks. Historians have
generally ranked him as an above-average president.
Photograph: Kevin Rofidal, United States Coast Guard; edit:
Papa Lima Whiskey
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge was an eight-lane, steel truss
arch bridge that carried
Interstate 35W across the
Saint Anthony Falls of the
Mississippi River in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Once the third-busiest bridge in the state, it
suddenly collapsed on August 1, 2007, killing 13 and injuring 145. Rescue of people stranded on the bridge was complete in three hours, while recovery of bodies—involving 75 local, state and federal agencies—took three weeks. An
NTSB investigation cited a design flaw as the likely cause of the collapse, noting that a too-thin
gusset plate ripped along a line of rivets.
Chester A. Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 21st
President of the United States from 1881 to 1885. Born in Vermont and raised in upstate New York, Arthur practiced law in New York City before serving as a
quartermaster general in the Civil War. He became active in the Republican party after the war, was elected vice president on the ticket of President
James A. Garfield, and assumed the presidency upon Garfield's
assassination six months into his presidency. He effected a
reform of the civil service during his presidency, as well as
navy reform and
an act to prohibit immigration by Chinese laborers and deny citizenship to those already in the US. Due to his poor health, Arthur did not seek a second term.
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe
dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. Drought and a failure to apply
dryland farming methods to prevent
wind erosion caused the phenomenon. The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the high plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.
This photograph, titled Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!, was taken by
Dorothea Lange in 1937 and depicts a Missouri migrant family's
jalopy stuck near Tracy, California.
Map: Private Robert K. Sneden, mapmaker for Samuel P. Heintzelman's III Corps
The Battle of Malvern Hill was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate
Army of Northern Virginia and the Union
Army of the Potomac. It was the final battle of the
Seven Days Battles during the
American Civil War, taking place on
Malvern Hill near the Confederate capital of
Richmond, Virginia. Including inactive reserves, more than fifty thousand soldiers from each side took part, using more than two hundred pieces of artillery and three warships. The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the Union side, but the Confederates claimed a strategic victory as the Union failed to go on to capture Richmond.
This is a map of the night's march undertaken by the Union forces after the battle.
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 16th
president of the United States from 1861 until
his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the
Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. Born in Kentucky into a poor family, Lincoln educated himself and worked as a lawyer in Illinois before entering politics. A powerful orator and astute politician, Lincoln used his
Gettysburg Address to promote nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. He has been consistently
ranked as one of the greatest US presidents, by both scholars and the public.
Denver is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of
Colorado. It is located in the
South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the
High Plains, just east of the
Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1858, the city is named after
James W. Denver, a governor of the
Kansas Territory, and it is
nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.3 meters) above sea level. Formerly part of
Arapahoe County, Denver became a
consolidated city-county in 1902.
This picture shows a panorama of Denver in around 1898, viewed from the top of the
Colorado State Capitol, facing northwest and looking down 16th St. The domed building on the left is the former Arapahoe County Courthouse, demolished in 1933, and the
Brown Palace Hotel is visible on the righthand side.
Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the
civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the
Montgomery bus boycott. On December 1, 1955, in
Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected a bus driver's order to relinquish her seat in the "colored section" to a white passenger after the whites-only section was filled, inspiring the African-American community to boycott the Montgomery buses for more than a year. Her act of defiance and the boycott became important symbols of the civil rights movement and resistance to
racial segregation. After her conviction for disorderly conduct, her appeal became bogged down in the state courts, but the federal Montgomery bus lawsuit, Browder v. Gayle, succeeded in overturning bus segregation in November 1956. Upon her death, Parks became the first woman to
lie in honor in the
U.S. Capitol rotunda.
This photograph of Parks being fingerprinted was taken on February 22, 1956, when she was arrested again, along with 73 others, after a grand jury indicted 113 African Americans for organizing the Montgomery bus boycott.
William Grant Still (1895–1978) was an American
composer of nearly 200 works, including five
symphonies and nine
operas. Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers", Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the
New York City Opera. His first symphony, entitled Afro-American Symphony, was until 1950 the most widely performed symphony composed by an American. Born in Mississippi, he grew up in
Little Rock, Arkansas, attended
Wilberforce University and
Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and was a student of
George Whitefield Chadwick and later
Edgard Varèse. Still was the first African American to conduct a major American symphony
orchestra and the first to have an opera performed on national television. Due to his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, he is considered to be part of the
Harlem Renaissance movement.
This picture of Still was taken by
Carl Van Vechten in 1949; the photograph is in the collection of the
Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th
president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1849, until his death in office the following year. He was previously a career officer in the
United States Army, rose to the rank of
major general and became a national hero as a result of his victories in the
Mexican–American War. As a result, he
won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs.
On July 4, 1850, Taylor reportedly consumed copious amounts of raw fruit and iced milk while attending holiday celebrations during a fundraising event at the
Washington Monument. Over the course of several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment, several of his cabinet members being similarly affected. Despite treatment, Taylor died five days later. His vice-president
Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed his term in office.
James A. Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th
president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death
by assassination six and a half months later. He had been shot at the
Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2 that year by
Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. According to some historians, Garfield might have survived his wounds had the doctors attending him had at their disposal today's medical research and techniques. Instead, they probed the wound with unsterilized fingers and equipment, trying to locate the bullet, and the resulting infection was a significant factor in his death.
This picture is a
line engraving of Garfield, produced around 1902 by the
Department of the Treasury's
Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a
BEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents, which was reportedly given to Treasury Secretary
Lyman J. Gage.
This picture is an engraved vignette of the American artist
John Trumbull's 1821 oil-on-canvas painting Surrender of General Burgoyne, depicting the surrender of British troops under
John Burgoyne on October 17, 1777, at the end of the
Saratoga campaign of the
American Revolutionary War. The work is one of eight historical paintings that hang in
the rotunda of the
United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The American victory
at Saratoga had dramatic consequences on the war. Although some foreign states, notably France, had been supporting the American cause in the form of financial and material provisions, the French wished for no further involvement until the capture of a British army at Saratoga by American forces made them reconsider their level of commitment. This
line engraving was produced for the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) for use on United States banknotes.
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth
president of the United States in 1841. He died of
typhoid,
pneumonia or
paratyphoid fever 31 days into his term, becoming the first president to die in office. His death sparked a brief
constitutional crisis regarding succession to the presidency. Vice President
John Tyler claimed a
constitutional mandate to become the new president and took the presidential oath of office, setting an important precedent for an orderly transfer of the presidency and its full powers when the previous president fails to complete the elected term.
Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist, known for his black-and-white images of the
American West. As a child, he visited
Yosemite National Park with his family and was given his first camera. He was later tasked by the
United States Department of the Interior to take photographs of national parks. For this work, and for his persistent advocacy, which helped expand the National Park system, he was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh
president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He has been widely revered in the United States as an advocate for democracy and the common man, but many of his actions proved divisive, garnering both fervent support and strong opposition from different sectors of society. His reputation has suffered since the 1970s, largely due to his pivotal role in the forcible removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands; however,
surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson favorably among U.S. presidents.
Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th
president of the United States, the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office (1885–1889 and 1893–1897). His victory in the
1884 presidential election made him the first successful Democratic nominee since the start of the
Civil War. He won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of
classical liberalism, and was renowned for fighting political corruption, patronage, and
bossism.
This is a cartoon by the German-American cartoonist and animator Henry Mayer (1868–1954), entitled The Awakening, which first appeared in the magazine Puck in February 1915. Published in support of
women's suffrage in the United States, the cartoon depicts
Lady Liberty wearing a cape labeled "Votes for Women" and standing astride the states (colored white) that had
granted women the right to vote. A poem by
Alice Duer Miller is printed beneath.
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh
president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He has been widely revered in the United States as an advocate for democracy and the common man, but many of his actions proved divisive, garnering both fervent support and strong opposition from different sectors of society. His reputation has suffered since the 1970s, largely due to his pivotal role in the forcible removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands; however,
surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson favorably among U.S. presidents.
Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837 – June 24, 1908) was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th
president of the United States, the only president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms in office (1885–1889 and 1893–1897). His victory in the
1884 presidential election made him the first successful Democratic nominee since the start of the
Civil War. He won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and commitment to the principles of
classical liberalism, and was renowned for fighting political corruption, patronage, and
bossism.
The inauguration of John Tyler as the tenth
president of the United States took place on April 6, 1841, in Washington, D.C., following the death of President
William Henry Harrison two days earlier. This was the first non-scheduled, extraordinary
presidential inauguration to take place in American history. Having received news of Harrison's death, Tyler traveled to Washington from his home in
Williamsburg, Virginia by steamboat and train, the fastest means of conveyance then available, taking 21 hours.
The half eagle is a
United Statescoin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since the 1980s. Composed almost entirely of gold, it has a face value of five
dollars. It was the first gold coin to be minted by the United States, its production being authorized by the
Coinage Act of 1792. The design and composition of the half eagle changed many times over the years, but this version was designed by
Christian Gobrecht and produced in 1866. The obverse design depicts a portrait of
Liberty facing to the left, and the reverse depicts a modified eagle, with the addition of the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST" above the eagle.
Other designs:
Bessie Coleman (1892–1926) was a
civil aviator. On June 15, 1921, she became the first African-American woman and the first Native American to earn an aviation pilot's license. Denied opportunity in the United States because of her race and sex, she had to go to France to learn to fly. Her career involved stunt flying and performing in
air shows, and was cut short in 1926 when she was thrown from a plane in mid-air. Her death meant that her ambition to establish a school for young black aviators went unaccomplished, but her pioneering achievements served as an inspiration for a generation of African-American men and women.
Jane Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American actress, singer, and model who became one of Hollywood's leading
sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. This publicity still, depicting Russell reclining on a bed of hay and holding a pistol, was taken by
George Hurrell for her film debut in
Howard Hughes's film The Outlaw (1943), which launched her career. She went on to star in more than twenty films, including opposite
Marilyn Monroe in the hugely successful Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).
Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She lost her sight and hearing after a bout of illness at the age of nineteen months. When she was seven years old, she met her first teacher and life-long companion,
Anne Sullivan, who taught her language skills, including reading and writing. After attending
Radcliffe College at
Harvard University, she became the first
deafblind person to earn a
Bachelor of Arts degree. She worked for the
American Foundation for the Blind for many years, during which time she toured the United States and traveled to 35 countries around the world. This 1920 photograph depicts Keller examining a
magnolia flower.
Heinrich C. Berann (1915–1999) was an Austrian painter and
cartographer. He achieved world fame with his
panoramic maps that combined modern cartography with classical painting. Towards the end of his life, he created four panoramic posters of national parks which were published by the U.S.
National Park Service. This 1994 panorama shows
Denali National Park and Preserve in central Alaska, with
Denali, the highest mountain on the continent, and the
glaciers on its southern flanks.
Bryce Canyon National Park is an
American national park located in southwestern
Utah. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon, but a collection of giant natural
amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. This panoramic view, as seen from Inspiration Point, shows the colorful
Claron Formation, from which the park's delicate
hoodoos are carved; the sediments were laid down in a system of streams and lakes that existed from 63 to about 40 million years ago (from the
Paleocene to the
Eocene epochs). The brown, pink and red colors are from
hematite, the yellows from
limonite, and the purples from
pyrolusite.
Photograph credit: James & Bushnell; restored by
Adam Cuerden
Emma Smith DeVoe (August 22, 1848 – September 3, 1927) was a leading advocate for
women's suffrage in the United States in the early 20th century. She was inspired as a child by hearing a speech by
Susan B. Anthony, and became an excellent public speaker over time, being mentored by Anthony herself. After campaigning in
South Dakota and successfully obtaining the vote for women in
Idaho, the
National American Woman Suffrage Association sent her to
Kentucky, and she eventually made speeches and organized new suffrage groups in 28 states and territories. Moving to
Washington, she was made president of the Washington Equal Suffrage Association; in 1910, the state became the fifth in the country to grant women suffrage.
Liliʻuokalani (September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917) was the only
queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the
Hawaiian Kingdom. She ascended to the throne on January 29, 1891, nine days after the death of her brother
King Kalākaua. During her reign, she attempted to draft
a new constitution in 1893 that would restore the power of the monarchy and the voting rights of the economically disenfranchised. Threatened by her attempts to abrogate the 1887
Bayonet Constitution, pro-American elements in Hawaii
overthrew the monarchy on January 17, 1893. She was placed under house arrest, was forced to abdicate the Hawaiian throne and lived the rest of her life as a private citizen. This photograph of Liliʻuokalani was signed by the queen herself and addressed to
Josephus Daniels,
United States Secretary of the Navy.
Photograph credit: unknown; restored by
Adam Cuerden
Pauline Adams (1874–1957) was an Irish-American
suffragist. On 4 September 1917, she and twelve other activists were arrested for attempting to "flaunt their banners" in front of President
Woodrow Wilson's reviewing stand before a Selective Service parade in
Washington, D.C., and they chose prison rather than paying a 25-dollar fine. This photograph depicts Adams seated at a table, wearing prison uniform and holding a cup in her raised right hand. The image was published in the newspaper The Suffragist in 1919.
Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by
Andrew Shiva
The Utah Territory was a
U.S. territory in the
Western United States that existed from its creation on September 9, 1850, to its admission to the Union on January 4, 1896 as the
State of Utah. This picture shows the Utah Territory's historical coat of arms, as illustrated by American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by
Louis Prang. The
escutcheon depicts a beehive, representing the state's industrious and hard-working inhabitants, and
sego lilies symbolizing peace.
Martha Ann Honeywell (1786–1856) was an American disabled artist who produced silhouettes and paper-cutout images using only her mouth, arm stumps and toes, often in public performances. She sold cutouts such as this one as souvenirs. The text at the center of this cutout, with framed dimensions of 8+1⁄4 in × 7+5⁄8 in (21 cm × 19 cm), is the standard text of the
Lord's Prayer, signed underneath with the inscription "Written without hands by Martha Honeywell". The work is now in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Philip Francis Thomas (12 September 1810 – 2 October 1890) was an American lawyer and politician. He served in the
Maryland House of Delegates and was the
28th governor of Maryland from 1848 to 1851. In 1860, he was appointed as the 23rd
United States secretary of the treasury, in President
James Buchanan's administration. He held the post for only one month, resigning after he failed to obtain a loan to pay the interest on the bonded public debt. After unsuccessfully standing for election to the
United States Senate in 1878, he returned to the Maryland House of Delegates and later resumed the practice of law.
A photograph of American poet, essayist and journalist Walt Whitman, taken in 1887. Whitman, often called the father of
free verse, is considered one of the most important poets in American canon.
A
surfer performing a gash, or very sharp turn, off the
Santa Cruz,
California coastline. Northern California is a popular surfing destination; however, the year-round low temperature of the ocean in that region (averaging 57ºF/14ºC) necessitates the use of
wetsuits.
Scars of a
whipped Mississippi slave Photo taken: (April 2, 1863) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. Original caption: "Overseer Artayou Carrier whipped me. I was two months in bed sore from the whipping. My master come after I was whipped; he discharged the overseer. The very words of poor Peter, taken as he sat for his picture."