These nine photographs of dogs come from the Library of Congress and the National Archives, and they run from about 1909 to 1946. Government photographers made the ones in Montana, Oregon and Utah, the Washington news studio Harris & Ewing took five of the others, and the last is an unnamed photographer’s picture from Italy. All of them are in the public domain.
A shepherd, his horse and his dog
Russell Lee photographed this shepherd with his horse and dog on the Gravelly Range in Madison County, Montana, in August 1942. It is part of the Farm Security Administration color collection at the Library of Congress, and the sky is a blue that looks almost too deep to be real. The dog stays close to the horse’s feet.
Six puppies on a table
The Library of Congress title is simply “Puppies,” and the date given is 1927. Harris & Ewing, a Washington news-photo studio, photographed six of them on a table, and they have pressed together at the back with plenty of room to spare in front.
A miner’s daughter and her dog
Russell Lee photographed the child of a miner and her dog at the Utah Fuel Company’s Sunnyside Mine in Carbon County, Utah, on July 5, 1946. The girl smiles at the camera with a hand on the dog’s back, and the dog looks off to the left at something more interesting.
A refreshment stand shaped like a dog
Dorothea Lange photographed this novelty refreshment stand on U.S. Highway 99 in Lane County, Oregon, in October 1939. The building is a giant hound, and the sign on its base offers iced drinks, sandwiches and coffee. It may be the only dog in this set that serves lunch.
A big white dog at the White House
The Library of Congress title names Calvin Coolidge and the White House, and the date is December 1, 1924. Its mention of Christmas seals carries a question mark, so the occasion is a guess. What is certain is the dog: it stands on its hind legs, and the three people beside it are all looking at it.
A white dog on a barrel
The Library of Congress title is just “Dog show,” and the date is 1915. The small white dog has been stood on a barrel with its ears pricked at something outside the frame, and the woman beside it keeps a hand on its back in case it jumps.
Hazel MacKaye and her dog
Harris & Ewing photographed Hazel MacKaye with her dog in 1915. The Library of Congress says she was on the Advisory Council of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and wrote and produced the suffrage tableaux on the Treasury Steps in Washington on March 3, 1913. Here she holds the dog close and smiles, with no stage in sight.
The largest and the smallest dog
The title is “Largest and smallest dog at dog show,” and the date is 1923. The big dog’s head comes up to the women’s waists, while the small one in its sweater could fit in a hand. Both women look pleased with the arrangement, and the big dog looks away from all of it.
A Red Cross dog in Italy
The Library of Congress title is “Red Cross dog – Italy,” and Wikimedia Commons dates the picture to January 1909. The collie wears a pack marked with a cross and keeps its long nose pointed at something outside the frame. Nobody recorded who took the photograph.
