Native Philadelphian photographer William Herman Rau (1855-1920) captured this photograph of John Philip Sousa’s band in 1900 as it represented the United States at the Paris Exposition.

Rau worked as a government and survey photographer, and later opened his own shop in Philadelphia where he photographed ladies dressed in outfits considered “risqué” for his time. His work also led him to photographing the Pennsylvania Railroad and Lehigh Valley Railroad, on which he travelled in a well-equiped passenger car having its own darkroom and camera platform on its roof. Rau’s efforts also helped document the Johnstown (Pennsylvania) flood and the Baltimore fire of 1904.

Photo courtesy of the Public Domain Photo Blog.