"Washington as It Was" features Theodor Horydczak's images of the architecture and social life of the Washington metropolitan area from the 1920s through the 1950s, including exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential and government buildings, as well as street scenes and views of neighborhoods. A number of Washington events and activities, such as the 1932 Bonus Army encampment, the 1933 World Series and World War II preparedness campaigns, are also depicted.

Horydczak took relatively few portraits or even candid photographs of people. Where people do appear in his work, they are often stiffly posed and appear to be awkwardly trying to ignore the photographer's presence, as in Horydczak's 1930 view of the meat counter in Fred Gouer's grocery store at 117 Hare St. in Baltimore.

For more images of the nation's capital, go to the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. and type "Washington DC" in the search box. You will get 500 hits, offering images as diverse as those of "Negro churches" and the "Oddfellows Hall" to the Folger Shakespeare Library and a classroom in the city's Anacostia neighborhood. When you get your search results, click on the purple "Preview Images" button to view the image thumbnails.