Decade

1940s

We Can Do It!. J. Howard Miller's wartime factory poster, later adopted as the face of the women who built America's arsenal.

No. 026 · Famous Americans

We Can Do It!

By National Archives (NARA)

From $149

Women Who Built the Bombers. Alfred Palmer's color photo of women machining parts at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California.

No. 027 · Famous Americans

Women Who Built the Bombers

By Library of Congress (Office of War Information)

From $149

The Tuskegee Airmen. Pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group, the Red Tails, in Ramitelli, Italy.

No. 028 · Famous Americans

The Tuskegee Airmen

By Library of Congress

From $149

Kissing the War Goodbye. Times Square erupts at the news that World War II is over; Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen catches the kiss.

No. 029 · Firsts

Kissing the War Goodbye

By US Navy / Coast Guard / Army via NARA/LOC

From $149

Into the Jaws of Death. Soldiers wade toward Omaha Beach on D-Day; pairs with Eisenhower's Order of the Day ("The eyes of the world are upon you").

No. 030 · Great Speeches

Into the Jaws of Death

By US Navy / Coast Guard / Army via NARA/LOC

From $149

Full Victory, Nothing Else. The night before D-Day, General Eisenhower talks with paratroopers of the 101st Airborne; pairs with the Order of the Day text.

No. 031 · Great Speeches

Full Victory, Nothing Else

By US Navy / Coast Guard / Army via NARA/LOC

From $149

Harry S. Truman, president. Sworn in on April 12, 1945, after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He left office on January 20, 1953.

No. 099 · Presidents

Harry S. Truman

By Wikimedia Commons

From $149

Billie Holiday at the Downbeat, 1947. William Gottlieb shot this weeks before Holiday's 1947 drug arrest.

No. 177 · Jazz Age

Billie Holiday at the Downbeat, 1947

By Wikimedia Commons

From $149

Thelonious Monk at Minton's, 1947. Minton's in Harlem was where bebop was born at late-night jam sessions, with Monk as house pianist.

No. 178 · Jazz Age

Thelonious Monk at Minton's, 1947

By Wikimedia Commons

From $149

The Tetons and the Snake River, Ansel Adams 1942. Adams made this for the Interior Department's Mural Project, a government commission for murals that was cancelled by WWII.

No. 182 · America's Parks

The Tetons and the Snake River, Ansel Adams 1942

By Wikimedia Commons

From $149

Chuck Yeager and the X-1 Team. Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947 with two cracked ribs from a horseback riding fall, which he hid from flight surgeons.

No. 186 · Wings

Chuck Yeager and the X-1 Team

By Wikimedia Commons

From $149

Jamaica, 1948 (Toni Frissell). Frissell's late-1940s Jamaica trip caught the island just as Ian Fleming and Noël Coward were building their hideaways on the north coast.

No. 214 · Leisure & Resort

Jamaica, 1948 (Toni Frissell)

By Toni Frissell

From $149

Dog Gets Off the Bus, 1943 (Esther Bubley). A stray hopped onto a Greyhound bus at a rest stop between Cincinnati and Chicago.

No. 218 · Candid & Wit

Dog Gets Off the Bus, 1943 (Esther Bubley)

By Esther Bubley

From $149

The Rodeo Clown Gets a Laugh, 1940 (Russell Lee). Lee turned his camera away from the arena and onto the crowd: one spectator in stitches at a cowboy clown at the San Angelo Fat Stock Show.

No. 219 · Candid & Wit

The Rodeo Clown Gets a Laugh, 1940 (Russell Lee)

By Russell Lee

From $149

"And So He Says to Me...", 1942 (Howard Hollem). Navy mechanics at Corpus Christi crack up over a story between jobs on the planes.

No. 220 · Candid & Wit

"And So He Says to Me...", 1942 (Howard Hollem)

By Howard Hollem

From $149

Laughing at the Menfolk, Pie Town 1940 (Russell Lee). Homesteader women and kids in Pie Town, New Mexico, break up at whatever the men were doing at an all-day Sunday birthday visit.

No. 221 · Candid & Wit

Laughing at the Menfolk, Pie Town 1940 (Russell Lee)

By Russell Lee

From $149

The Comic Entry, 1940 (Jack Delano). A small-town Fourth of July beauty contest in Salisbury, Maryland, had a joke entry, and Delano got the shot.

No. 238 · Candid & Wit

The Comic Entry, 1940 (Jack Delano)

By Jack Delano

From $149

The Judges in the Crowd, 1940 (Jack Delano). Delano turned around and shot the audience at the same Salisbury beauty contest, and their faces say more than the contestants do.

No. 239 · Candid & Wit

The Judges in the Crowd, 1940 (Jack Delano)

By Jack Delano

From $149

Costumes for Mardi Gras, 1941 (Marion Post Wolcott). Wolcott had a dry eye for hand-painted signs, and this New Orleans costume shop's sign promises more than any costume could deliver.

No. 240 · Candid & Wit

Costumes for Mardi Gras, 1941 (Marion Post Wolcott)

By Marion Post Wolcott

From $149

Floating Models, 1948 (Toni Frissell). Frissell had models float on their backs and shot straight down into the pool, decades before overhead pool shots became an Instagram cliche.

No. 241 · Leisure & Resort

Floating Models, 1948 (Toni Frissell)

By Toni Frissell

From $149

Rodeo at the Pie Town Fair, New Mexico, Russell Lee, 1940. Pie Town homesteaders held their own fair and rodeo, and FSA photographer Russell Lee shot it all in color and black and white.

No. 267 · Cowboys & Rodeo

Rodeo at the Pie Town Fair, New Mexico, Russell Lee, 1940

By Russell Lee

From $149

Driving Calves for Roping, Pie Town, 1940 (Russell Lee). Local boys drove calves into the corral for the roping event, the same ranch skill that started rodeo in the first place.

No. 268 · Cowboys & Rodeo

Driving Calves for Roping, Pie Town, 1940 (Russell Lee)

By Russell Lee

From $149