President Kennedy’s family in Hyannis Port

Public Domain Photo: President John F. Kennedy and his family in Hyannis Port in 1963 with their dogs - photo dated 14 August 1963 by Cecil W. Stoughton, White House Photographs.

The photo shows President John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr. (born in 1960, killed in an airplane crash on July 16, 1999), Mrs. Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy, and Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (the only surviving child of the four children of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy, born in 1957, a lawyer and the president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation).

Hyannis Port, a village located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, was the location of the Kennedy Compound and Kennedy family residences, and hence it is included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Tunnel in the Pioneer Cabin Tree

Public Domain Photo: A tunnel in the Pioneer Cabin Tree cut in the 1880s, photo by John J. O'Brien, 28 August, 2005.

A large tunnel was cut through the Pioneer Cabin Tree located in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park, located 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Arnold, California, in the 1880s in order to compete with the Wawona Tunnel Tree in Mariposa Grove in the Yosemite National Park.

The Wawona Tunnel Tree, a Giant Sequoia

Public Domain Photo: The Wawona Tunnel Tree, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite Valley, California.

Public Domain Photo: The Wawona Tunnel Tree, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite Valley, California, photo by C. Cameron Macauley taken on June 1, 1946.

Public Domain Photo: The Wawona Tunnel Tree, Mariposa Grove, Yosemite Valley, California, Library of Congress photo, 1918 June 15.

The 2300-years-old Wawona Tree (or Wawona Tunnel Tree), was a famous Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum, also known as Sierra redwood, or Wellingtonia) that stood in Mariposa Grove in the Yosemite National Park, California. It had a height of 227 feet (69 meters) and was 90 feet (27 meters) in circumference.

In 1881a tunnel was cut through the Giant Sequoia through a scar caused by wildfire, at a cost of $75 paid to two workers. The Wawona Tree had a slight lean which aggravated on tunneling. However, with its new status as the Wawona Tunnel Tree, it became a very popular tourist attraction, as thousands of tourists came to have their photos taken driving through it or standing beneath it. It was photographed accommodating everything from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles, before the Wawona Tunnel Tree fell in 1969 because of an estimated two-ton load of snow on its crown.

Discovery Tree Stump, Calaveras Big Trees State Park

Public Domain Photo: Discovery Tree stump and part of the fallen tree, photo by John J. O'Brien, 28 August 2005.

The Discovery Tree stump is located in the popular North Grove of the Calaveras Big Trees State Park. The Discovery Tree, a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), was first noted by Augustus T. Dowd in 1852 and felled in 1853, leaving only a giant stump which is the only remainder of the tree. The tree measured 24 feet (7.3 meters) in diameter at its base and was 1,244 years old when felled.

Calaveras Big Trees State Park with an area of about 26 square kilometers (6,400 acres) and a major tourist attraction since 1852, when the existence of the Giant Sequoias trees was first widely reported, is located 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Arnold, California, in the middle altitudes of the Sierra Nevada in Calaveras County. It became a state park in 1931 and it is considered the longest continuously operated tourist facility in California.

A Giant Sequoia near Yosemite National Park

Public Domain Photo: A Giant Sequoia tree found near the Sequoia National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Visalia, California, USA.

Sequoiadendron giganteum (generally known as giant sequoia, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods. The other two are Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwood) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn Redwood). When only referred to as ‘sequoia’, it means Sequoiadendron giganteum, which grow naturally only in the groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, United States.

US$500 Bill Portraying William McKinley

US$500 bill (not in use now), series: 1928 & 1934, with the portrait of William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to that office in 1896. McKinley was reelected in the 1900 presidential election, but was assassinated by an anarchist Leon F. Czolgosz in 1901.

Young women posing in swimsuits, 1940s

Public Domain Photo: Young women posing in swimsuits on sand dune, 1940s, physical description: glass transparency: applied color ; 8 x 10 in, DER glass lantern slides, found at State Library and Archives of Florida, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250 USA.

Source for this public domain photo: http://ibistro.dos.state.fl.us/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/x/0/5?library=PHOTO&item_type=PHOTOGRAPH&searchdata1=Ep05

Blood Lily (Scadoxus multiflorus)

Public Domain Photo: A visitor photographs a blood lily (Scadoxus multiflorus) at the Fairchild Tropical Garden, located in the south of Miami on an 83-acre site between historic Old Cutler Road and Biscayne Bay. The Garden is internationally renowned for its collections of palms, cycads, and other tropical plants, including many rare and endangered species of plants.

Blood Lily (Scadoxus multiflorus) is also known by names such as Football Lily, Powderpuff Lily, Poison Root, Fireball Lily, etc. The Scadoxus, having close affinities with Haemanthus from which it has been separated only recently, is a genus of 9 species native to tropical Africa. As a garden plant, or indoor plant, it is cultivated in many parts of the world, notably in North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. The plant can live in the most neglected conditions, with the least care. The ideal climate is tropical, and it may not withstand extreme cold conditions. Mostly one bulb produces a solitary bunch of flowers consisting of up to 200 individual flowers in a season, or annually. The size of the flower can be as big as a football, and it is interesting to watch as a stalk may come up from a dormant bulb from below the ground and produce a bunch of flowers, and a few leaves may grow up, mostly after the flowers wither away.

More public domain photos of Blood Lily flowers and a plant with a bud and leaves are below.

Lt. Kelly Lanning and his wife Megan O'Brien enjoy a Pedi Cab ride

Public Domain Photo: Lt. Kelly Lanning and his new wife, Megan O'Brien, enjoy a Pedi Cab ride following their wedding, New York, June 11, 2009.

Lt. Kelly Lanning and his new wife, Megan O'Brien, enjoy a Pedi Cab ride following their wedding ceremony on Military Island in Times Square. They joined four other military couples pledging their love and commitment for each other as well as the country in a ceremony covered widely by the New York media. A small number of family and friends were on hand to witness the ceremony coordinated by WE TV and the USO of Metropolitan New York.

Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Cpt. Angela Webb

An F-16 Fighting Falcon of the Wisconsin Air National Guard

Public Domain Photo: An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter-bomber aircraft from the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard sits on the runway in Madison, Wisconsin on June 28, 2008, during an American Independence Day celebration and fireworks display - DoD photo by Joe Oliva, U.S. Air Force. Dimensions and size: 3000×2300 pixels, 597 KB.

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John Klatt flies the Staudacher S-300D aerobatic stunt plane

Public Domain Photos: Major John Klatt, a pilot from the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing and a civilian aerobatic pilot, flies a Staudacher S-300D, a world class aerobatic stunt plane crafted by John Staudacher (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Don Nelson, 115 FW/PA).

Major John Klatt is a pilot from the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 148th Fighter Wing in Duluth, Minnesota. Klatt partners with the Air National Guard to assist in their recruiting efforts at air shows across the United States. In addition to his performances at the air shows, Maj. Klatt provides incentive flights to recruiters and Guard volunteers to promote the Air National Guard. When Maj. John Klatt is not flying the C-130 turboprop transport aircraft around the world or the F-16 Fighting Falcon in air support and combat operations for the U.S. Air Force, he serves as a first officer with a major U.S. commercial airline. Each year ‘The John Klatt Air Show’ participates in 18 to 20 air shows contracted by the Air National Guard (ANG).

The Staudacher S-300D (in the photos above), which is capable of pulling more than 20 G’s, which is twice the load of the F-16C Fighting Falcon, is a world class aerobatic airplane, and each plane is differently crafted to suit the pilot’s requirements by John Staudacher in the Bay City, MI area.

U.S. Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcons over Madison skyline

Public Domain Photo: Four U.S. Airf Force F-16C Fighting Falcons from the 115th Fighter Wing, Wisconsin Air National Guard over Wisconsin's capital city of Madison on October 18th, 2008. In flight lead is aircraft 87-278 with a unique tail flash that was designed to celebrate the unit's 60th Anniversary. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Master Sgt. Paul Gorman)

Multnomah Falls, Oregon, United States

Public Domain Photo: Multnomah Falls, a waterfall on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, located east of Troutdale, between Corbett and Dodson, along the Historic Columbia River Highway - the third tallest year-round waterfall in the United States.

PD Photo 2: Multnomah Falls, Oregon, USA, before the footbridge was built, photo dated 1914 (or before), colorized from black-and-white photo

PD Photo 3: Multnomah Falls, Oregon, with footbridge and showing the upper falls and the lower falls, looking 100 degrees east, photo taken in June 1994

PD Photo 4: Multnomah Falls, Oregon, a view from the base showing the lower falls and part of the upper falls in April 2006

PD Photo 5: Multnomah Falls, Oregon, showing the base, the lower falls, footbridge, and part of the upper falls

Multnomah Falls, the tallest waterfall in the State of Oregon, drops in two major stages, upper falls of 542 feet (165 meters) and a lower falls of 69 feet (21 meters), with a 9 feet (3 m) drop in the elevation between the two. The total height is conventionally stated as 620 feet (189 meters).

World War I American Navy propaganda poster

PD Image: World War I U.S. Navy propaganda poster (1917 or 1918) by American artist and illustrator James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960). The message on the U.S. Navy Recruiting Station poster is "The Navy Needs You! Don't READ American History, MAKE IT!" The poster features a US Navy sailor who addresses a civilian reading about the war in a newspaper, in the sky above them Columbia holds a sword and flag, and a battle ship is far beyond, in the distance.

William Charles: Bruin becomes mediator or negotiation for peace

PD Image: Bruin becomes mediator or negotiation for peace (1813), cartoon by William Charles (1776–1820) depicting John Bull, the Russian Bear and Columbia (the female personification of America before Uncle Sam became popular as the personification of America). The cartoon refers to the War of 1812 between America and Great Britain and the Russian efforts to mediate between them.

George W Bush with a Halloween King

PD Photo: Former US President George W. Bush shares a moment with a ‘Halloween King’ during a Halloween night stop on Tuesday, October 31, 2006, at a housing development on base at Robins Air Force Base, Ga - White House photo by Paul Morse.

Design Error - Pagsanjan Falls US Postage Stamp

PD Image: 18 Centavos postage stamp design error on a 1932 Philippines stamp. Although the stamp indicates that it depicts the Pagsanjan Falls in Luzon Islands in the Philippines, in fact it shows the Vernal Fall, Yosemite National Park, California, USA.

The Pagsanjan Falls postage stamp, part of a set of seven stamps showing places of interest and landmarks in the Philippines, issued on 3 May 1932 is highly priced due to an error. In 1932 Philippines was treated as its own territory by the United States.

The United States postal department wanted to print an image of Pagsanjan Falls, a tourist attraction in Laguna province in the Philippines on the above stamp. But due to a callous design error, the image of the Vernal Fall was used. The error has made the stamp the most sought after in the set.

Beyonce Knowles: R&B and Pop Singer

PD Photo: Beyoncé Knowles performs "Listen" during "The Beyoncé Experience" in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, 7 May 2007, photo by Jen Keys

PD Photo: Beyonce Knowles sings "America the Beautiful" at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009, during the inaugural opening ceremonies. More than 5,000 men and women in uniform provided military ceremonial support to the presidential inauguration, a tradition dating back to George Washington's 1789 inauguration. Photo dated 18 January 2009, by Donna Lou Morgan, U.S. Navy.

The western front of the United States Capitol

PD Photo: The western front of the United States Capitol, the Neoclassical style building, located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. Source File: 3,000 x 1,556 pixels, file size: 5.18 MB, image/jpeg, AOC, US Govt. (CLICK to download the original photo) Author: The Architect of the Capitol (AOC), the federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex; the Architect of the Capitol is in the legislative branch and is responsible to the United States Congress.

WW II Posters Warning US Servicemen against Venereal Diseases

Pubic Domain World War II Poster #1: ‘She May Look Clean -- But pick-ups, good-time girls and prostitutes’ carry infections, poster featuring a warning to all American servicemen that even the perfect girl-next-door could be a possible carrier of infection, appealing to the soldiers’ sense of patriotism and urging them to protect themselves for the sake of the country suggesting, "You can't beat the Axis if you get VD."

Pubic Domain World War II Poster #2: Venereal Disease Covers the Earth (1940), a warning to American soldiers against venereal diseases across the world. It shows a glamorous woman posing in a low-cut red dress (red-terror, communists?) set against a shadowed globe in the background. The headline warns, "Venereal disease covers the earth," and the bottom caption reiterates another message: “the responsibility of the soldier in protecting himself”.

Pubic Domain World War II Poster #3: Easy to get, both the woman and the diseases syphilis and gonorrhea, 1940 Charles Casa illustration of a prostitute leaning against a brick wall on a deserted street corner. The poster uses boldly contrasting colors to accent its message - the yellow on red background and the suggestiveness are used to catch the attention of the viewer, ultimately challenging the soldiers' correlation between sexually available women and good times.

Pubic Domain World War II Poster #4: She May Be A Bag of Trouble - this 1940 poster features the heavily made-up, cigarette-smoking woman as venereal disease carrier, and appealing to the soldiers’ interest in the eye-catching woman, the poster warns against venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea.

Pubic Domain World War II Poster #5: Juke Joint Sniper, a 1942 poster by Feree - a striking blonde woman lights up a cigarette in front of a bar. The headline makes it clear that this is a warning-this is not just any woman, she is a dangerous threat, indicated by the military-inspired epithet ‘Juke Joint Sniper’.