# Demonstrator of bullet-proof vest, 1923 (Library of Congress)

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/loc-2016892634-bulletproof-vest-demo-1923/

Harris & Ewing glass-negative photograph, dated [1923], of a man in a vest standing while a uniformed police officer aims a pistol at him, with other officers and civilians watching. A demonstration of body armor.

The Library's title, "Demonstrator of bullet-proof vest," is taken from unverified caption data on the negative sleeve, and the date [1923] is inferred from negatives in the same range. The photograph shows a man in a vest standing in an open space while a uniformed police officer points a pistol at him, with other officers and civilians looking on. The record does not give the place or the police department; the setting is presumably Washington, D.C., where Harris & Ewing worked, but the record does not say so.

The photograph is a demonstration of body armor that predates the vests the Bureau recovered in the 1930s. It records no crime.

**Object:** Glass-negative photograph  
**Maker:** Harris & Ewing  
**Date:** [1923]  
**Provenance:** Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress  
**Appears in:** LC-DIG-hec-43388

## Sources

- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (Harris & Ewing Collection): https://www.loc.gov/item/2016892634/