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On the date

Friday, October 5, 1917

From the day

Perspective: The Street Photographer · Tactile

The damp wool of a passerby’s overcoat brushes my knuckles as I adjust my glass plate, the air thick with the smell of horse manure and coal smoke. A young boy nearby sits on the curb, his small fingers calloused from pressing rough-hewn Lincoln Logs into a miniature fortress, oblivious to the news of Pacific raiders. I whistle a few bars of "Over There" while scouting for my next shot, watching a recruitment sergeant adjust his starch-stiff collar. It’s the same old story on every street corner: a stern finger pointed from a tattered poster, reminding every drifting soul that Uncle Sam wants YOU.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

GERMAN RAIDERS BUSY IN PACIFIC; Two Captured Vessels Manned by Crew of Seeadler, Which Stranded Off Mopena Island. ONE WAS FRENCH SCHOONER Commerce Destroyer at Sea Nearly a Year--Three American Vessels Among Victims. Text of Navy's Report. GERMAN RAIDERS BUSY IN PACIFIC Raider at Sea Nearly a Year.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Over There

George M. Cohan

The must-have

Lincoln Logs

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

lousysnapshotmovies

Soldiers

over the topblightyno man's landcooties

Suffragette

deeds not wordsvotes for women

Catchphrases of 1917

  • Uncle Sam wants YOU

Tech Check

Modern Zipper & Drone Torpedoes.

Cost of Living (1910)

Loaf of Bread

$0.06

Gallon of Gas

$0.15

Average Home

$3,600

New Car

$950

Time Elapsed

39,690 days ago

(108 years, 270 days)