In this image we see downtown New York City, probably along Wall Street where the photographer had his studio. Flags and ticker-tape, it is a wild celebration. The photographer has written the tile on the negative: Germany Surrenders. On glance at the cars parked along the street tells us we are not talking about 1945 and Hitler’s defeat. This is the at the end of the First World War (the War to End Wars), November 11th, 1918.

The photographer was W L Drummond, who had a studio at 72 Wall street. Now, by far the vast majority of Drummond’s whose first name starts with W are named William, with Walter a distant runner-up. So I checked the 1910 and 1920 New York City censuses for William L Drummond, William Drummond, and Walter Drummond — in that order. Found carpenters and clerks, and various other occupations, but no photographers. The problem, of course, is that workers in New York could live fairly far away even in those days, and commute. A wider search on Google found a couple other references to the photographer, but gave no further clues other than an indication he was in business ‘before WWI’ or ca 1913-16 (depending whether the writer was referring to the real start of WWI or just the U.S. involvement).