Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Washington, D.C., circa 1918. Another thrilling installment of "Emergency Fleet Corporation, building exterior." At center is the Underwood typewriter office at 1206 F Street N.W. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
That poster in the window of the bookshop - the thing on the pillow looks like my sheltie with the covers pulled up. I guess not.
In the early sixties, during my teen-age time, my father brought such an Underwood typewriter:
a spare one from the office where he worked, for use at home. My brother and I saw it and were amazed by it, saying: "wow, that's an old-fashioned typewriter!", when our mother, somewhat indignantly answered: "Old-fashioned, you call that old-fashioned? I worked all my working life with such a machine!" She was from 1902, being the first girl at a Rotterdam high school (until then for boys only), and worked as an assistant at a bank's office. When there happened to be a cash discrepancy of a cent, they had to make over-time (without being paid for!) until the cause of the discrepancy would have been found.
My first thought was that International Mercantile Marine wisely chose Arial/Verdana, knowing it would last at least the next 100 years!
Wow! Must be Early Piscataway architecture!
Here in Europe a number on the gable stands for the year of build. Is it common in America to put the number of the address there?
[Maybe it's one of Washington's few remaining 13th-century typewriter shops. Paging Stanton Square! - Dave]
The window lettering on Stewards Business College looks very ahead of its time. It still has some old-world feel about the shapes, especially the e's and g's, but overall it looks more like lettering done much later in the 20th Century. And look; lower-case letters on signage! The nerve! They must've been using Macs in there. Way ahead of their time.
That car in the middle looks really nice. And I must say that the streetwalkers were well dressed back in the day.
"THE World's greatest typists" sounds funny, was it such a higly appraised job back then?
This must be a real upper class area photo, with no Fords in sight as well as high dollar cruises for sale, and superb women's apparel too. Even if I was rich then I would surely think twice about a cruise with the White Star Line!
Erlebacher's "became nationally famous when Jacqueline Bouvier bought much of her trousseau there prior to her marriage to John Fitzgerald Kennedy."
"In a room lent by the Washington Chamber of Commerce in the old Brentano Building at Twelfth and F Streets thirty-two eager newspapermen appeared and, at 4:30 o'clock on March 12, 1908, was born the National Press Club."
Those boots on the lady to the left, I swear I saw them in the shoestore today.
Hey look, it's the local offices of White Star Line! Stop in and ask them about their soon-to-be-built megaship, the Titan-something-or-another. I hear it'll be unsinkable!
[In 1918 you'd be a little late. - Dave]
Two well dressed ladies waiting for the trolley.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5