Photographer

Harris & Ewing

1905–1945

Harris & Ewing was Washington’s picture bureau. Between the senators they also kept the stray cat, the goat cart, and the stenographer who took dictation in a shower.

Alex Smokes, 1924 (Harris & Ewing). Alex was the German shepherd of Ailsa Mellon, daughter of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.

No. 223 · Candid & Wit

Alex Smokes, 1924 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Largest and Smallest, 1923 (Harris & Ewing). Shot at a 1923 Washington dog show, this is a sight gag older than Erwitt's: the biggest dog in the hall paired with the smallest.

No. 224 · Candid & Wit

Largest and Smallest, 1923 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Laddie Boy and Friends, c.1922 (Harris & Ewing). Laddie Boy, President Harding's Airedale, was the first celebrity White House pet.

No. 225 · Candid & Wit

Laddie Boy and Friends, c.1922 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Sokko the Monkey, 1917 (Harris & Ewing). Sokko was a star at the National Zoo in Washington, and he sat for a studio photographer the way a senator would.

No. 226 · Candid & Wit

Sokko the Monkey, 1917 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

The General Plays the Organ, 1938 (Harris & Ewing). Army Chief of Staff Malin Craig cranked a street organ playing 'Sidewalks of New York' while senators clowned around him at the Alfalfa Club's annual outing in 1938.

No. 227 · Candid & Wit

The General Plays the Organ, 1938 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Taking Dictation in the Shower, 1922 (Harris & Ewing). It was 100 degrees in the shade, so stenographer Margerite Newman took the boss's letters in a bathing suit under a cooling shower.

No. 228 · Candid & Wit

Taking Dictation in the Shower, 1922 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

The Goat Team, c.1915 (Harris & Ewing). Before kids had bikes, Washington kids hitched goats to carts and drove them like ponies, and they were very serious about it.

No. 229 · Candid & Wit

The Goat Team, c.1915 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

The President Meets the Champions, 1929 (Harris & Ewing). America's champion bird dogs were brought to the White House for Herbert Hoover, a keen hunter.

No. 230 · Candid & Wit

The President Meets the Champions, 1929 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Bathing Beauties at the Monument, 1923 (Harris & Ewing). Dancers in bathing suits kick up their heels on the Tidal Basin beach, with the Washington Monument standing very still behind them.

No. 231 · Candid & Wit

Bathing Beauties at the Monument, 1923 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Curious Tom, 1936 (Harris & Ewing). Tom was the favorite cat at the Washington pound.

No. 232 · Candid & Wit

Curious Tom, 1936 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

The Senate Cat, 1939 (Harris & Ewing). A stray cat wandered into the Senate Office Building and ended up on the desk of Rosalie Sutton, a staffer for Senator Claude Pepper.

No. 233 · Candid & Wit

The Senate Cat, 1939 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Woman, Cat, Horse, 1923 (Harris & Ewing). No caption explains it, and none is needed: a woman on horseback with her cat riding along.

No. 234 · Candid & Wit

Woman, Cat, Horse, 1923 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Too Much Sun, 1936 (Harris & Ewing). The Smithsonian's Charles Abbot set up a public demo of his solar engine, and the sun was so strong it melted the solder.

No. 235 · Candid & Wit

Too Much Sun, 1936 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Senatorial Sweat, 1939 (Harris & Ewing). Senator Allen Ellender of Louisiana sits sealed in an electric-lamp steam cabinet with only his head showing.

No. 236 · Candid & Wit

Senatorial Sweat, 1939 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149

Dyed Green for Nervous Putters, 1938 (Harris & Ewing). Golfers complained that brown patches on the greens rattled their putting, so Agriculture Department experts made an insecticide that also dyed the grass green.

No. 237 · Candid & Wit

Dyed Green for Nervous Putters, 1938 (Harris & Ewing)

Photographed by Harris & Ewing

From $149