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Washington, January 1925. "Justice Department, Nat'l. Bureau of Identification." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
This would have made a great Edward Hopper painting.
These appear to be clerks searching the files of what is now the F.B.I. The magnifying glasses were used to view the ridges, loops and whorls on the fingerprint cards. I joined the Bureau in the early 1970's and except for the clothes and the light fixtures it was the same. The Ident Division used to be located at 2nd and D Streets N.W. in Washington. Now it's in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
But that is definitely a linen tester on top of the cabinet in front of the man at the right. It's an open frame type loupe, usually 5x-8x magnification.
He's wearing the ever popular page turning helper.
What's the purpose of the sponges in the glass dishes?
[Finger-wetting. - Dave]
I believe that is a loupe the man is using.
[He's using his eyeballs. - Dave]
I like the old fashioned fans. I guess people back then didn't need to be told not to put their fingers near a spinning blade. Sadly, those would be lawsuits waiting to happen today.
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