[The "Patrician," the largest passenger plane yet to be produced, piloted by Capt. St. Claire Street, army flier, who brought it from Bristol, Penn.. to Washington, with twenty passengers and baggage, at Bolling Field]

Founded in 1917 as The Flying Field at Anacostia, the Bolling Field was the first military airfield near the United States Capitol. It was renamed Anacostia Experimental Flying Field in June 1918. Throughout the Second World War, Bolling Field served as the aerial gateway to the US capital Washington D.C. After WWII, Bolling Field's property became Naval Air Station Anacostia and a new Air Force base, named Bolling Air Force Base, was constructed just to the south of the field in 1948.

During the administrations of Presidents Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, the National Photo Company supplied photographs of current news events in Washington, D.C., as a daily service to its subscribers. It also prepared sets of pictures on popular subjects and undertook special photographic assignments for local businesses and government agencies. The bulk of the images were created between 1909 and 1932. The photographic files of the National Photo Company, including an estimated 80,000 images (photographic prints and corresponding glass negatives), were acquired by the Library from its proprietor Herbert E. French in 1947.