FAIRCHILD AERIAL SURVEYS, S.S. Manhattan arrives in New York Harbor, undated (1932).

15x19.5 inches or 38x50cm, gelatin silver print, framed under glass on its original mount, Fairchild credit in the negative, labeled on the mount. The background provides a beautifully clear view of the lower Manhattan skyline, with the long-gone aquarium in Battery Park at right center (the round building). The ship was launched in 1931, at the outset of the Depression, and was considered an expensive gamble on the part of its owner, United States Lines. As the label says, at the time of their construction, the Manhattan and its sister ship, the Washington, were the largest liners ever built in the U.S. According to Wikipedia, the Manhattan served trans-Atlantic routes and during World War II was a troop ship, being scrapped after the war.