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Caption: "Empire State Bldg. 1250 Ft. High, 102 Stories. 34th St. New York. Aug. 13, 1934." View from the sidewalk, looking up at the Empire State Building. Construction began on this iconic 102-story building, designed by William F. Lamb, in 1930. Completed by early 1931, it held the title of world's tallest building for almost 40 years, until being surpassed in 1970 by the construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower. It is now the fifth-tallest building in the U.S., and the 28th-tallest in the world.

Date: 8/13/1934

Caption: "U.S. Mint unhurt," c. 1906. Pictured is the U.S. Mint building in San Francisco, which opened in 1874, after the original 1854 building was outgrown, which had been established to serve the gold mines during the California Gold Rush. The building suffered little damage after the 1906 earthquake. The facility served as the San Francisco U.S. Mint until 1937, when workers moved to a larger and more modern building. In 1961, the old U.S. Mint, known as the "Granite Lady," was designated a National Historic Landmark.

Date: 1906

No Caption: c. 1920. Image of the main building of Sutter's Fort. John Sutter established the fort in 1839, calling it New Helvetia. After the discovery of gold at one of Sutter's mills (at Coloma, on the American River), almost all of the fort's inhabitants left for the gold fields in the foothills. The fort deteriorated until being restored from 1891-1893. The Native Sons of the Golden West were influential in the restoration. The fort is now the site of a State Historic Park. See also 96-07-08-alb05-117 and 118.

Date: 1920

Caption: "Causeway Crossing Lake Pontchartrain -- New Orleans -- June 19, 34." The concrete deck of the Maestri Bridge (also called the Pontchartrain Bridge, the Five Mile Bridge, or the Watson-Williams Pontchartrain Bridge) stretches into the distance over Lake Pontchartrain in this photograph. Built in 1928 as the first permanent crossing of Lake Pontchartrain, it was also the longest concrete bridge in the world at the time of its construction. The bridge, almost five miles long, spans the lake between New Orleans and Slidell, Louisiana.

Date: 6/17/1934

Caption: "Coney Island. Sunday Crowd. New York. Aug. 19, 1934." Very crowded beach scene on New York's Coney Island. The construction of several resort hotels on the island in the 1870s and 1880s encouraged construction of amusement parks to provide tourist destinations. Coney Island has hosted several large amusement parks over the years, including one of the world's first roller coasters (built in 1884). Numerous smaller attractions were available as well. The island's popularity peaked in the mid-twentieth century, in the World War II era, but despite some decline is still a world-renowned recreation area.

Date: 8/19/1934

Caption: "Dry Dock, Bremerton." Bremerton, Washington, c. 1908-1912. See also 96-07-08-alb08-085. View of a dry dock at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. Established in 1891 as a naval station, it became Naval Yard Puget Sound in 1901. During World War I the shipyard constructed hundreds of ships to support the war effort, while in World War II, the shipyard was dedicated primarily to repairing damaged ships. Today, it contains a portion of the U.S. Navy's mothball fleet (ships retired but retained in case of future need), as well as building, repairing, and maintaining sea-going vessels of all kinds.

Date: 1908

Caption: "Buriel [sic] of the U.S.S. Bennington Victims. -- Fort Rosecrans." Shows a grave site with dozens of caskets ready for burial. A priest and two altar boys stand at one side of the caskets, while a large group of U.S. Navy sailors looks on from the other side. While sailing from port in San Diego on the morning of July 21, 1905, the boiler of the USS Bennington exploded, killing sixty-six of her crew. The victims were laid to rest in the cemetery at Fort Rosecrans. See also 96-07-08-alb08-217.

Date: 1905-07-23

Caption: "State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia. July 21, 1934." Virginia's State Capitol is visible in the left side of this photograph, while the Virginia Washington Monument can be seen at the right. The Capitol, designed largely by Thomas Jefferson and French architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau, was sufficiently complete by October 1792 for the Virginia General Assembly to meet within its walls. The building served as the capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Virginia Washington Monument, completed in 1869, features a 21-foot-tall statue of George Washington, mounted on a horse.

Date: 7/21/1934

The Census of 1852 collection includes enumerations of California's 32 counties, arranged into 126 volumes. Schedule I enumerated the county's inhabitants, while schedule II enurmerated economic production. Many pages of this volume are damaged.

Date: 1852

The Census of 1852 collection includes enumerations of California's 32 counties, arranged into 126 volumes. Schedule I enumerated the county's inhabitants, while schedule II enurmerated economic production. Many pages of this volume are damaged.

Date: 1852