Wed., Dec. 31

Inventoried our 66 current pages and updated their copyright notices for the new year. One year ago DCplates.net was comprised of 54 pages.

Sat., Dec. 27

Added image of a 1934 Trailer plate to our Truck and Trailer Types and 1930s Plates pages; added image of a 1956 Hire (Taxi) plate to our Public Service Types and 1950s Plates pages;

Fri., Dec. 26

Launched our new page about BF-series auto plates; continued to research pre-1918 plates as discussed in our Dec.25 entry.

Thur., Dec. 25

Researched and wrote about the few flat BF-series plates that were issued in Oct. 2001 for presentation on a new page to be launched tomorrow; began analyzing 1907-1917 annual reports of the D.C. Automobile Board in order to improve and add to our page dedicated to pre-1918 plates.

Mon., Dec. 22

Added to our page devoted to 1918-1929 D.C. plates a 1925 motoring scene; added to our Non-Passenger and Type Sets page an image of a 1974 base Medical Doctor plate provided by Andrew Pang; added to our page devoted to Antique Car and Historic Motor Vehicle plates an image of an HMV plate issued in 2003 provided by Andrew Apgar.

Sun., Dec. 14

Added to our page devoted to 1918-1929 D.C. plates vintage snapshots showing 1920 and 1925 plates in use, the 1925 image having been provided by Charlie Gauthier; modified text on our page upon which is described changes made to D.C plates issued from Sept. 2001 through Oct. 2002 in order to indicate our having narrowed the gap during which the city name font was changed to somewhere in the BC series.

Tue., Dec. 9

Completed and launched our new page from which most pages with content about current D.C. "Taxation Without Representation" plates can be reached; modified certain links so as to make this page easily accessible.

Sun., Dec. 7

Added images of two plates to our new page devoted to images of two-letter-prefix auto plates issued since April 1997; launched this page by placing links to it on pages devoted to 1991 and 2000 baseplates.

Sat., Dec. 6

Added images of six plates to the first new page described in the Nov. 28 entry.

Fri., Dec. 5, 2008

Added images of five plates to the first new page described in the Nov. 28 entry.

Sun., Nov. 30

Added images of two plates to the first new page described in the Nov. 28 entry.

Sat., Nov. 29

Added image of a rare 1991 reserved-number plate made on the optional City Bicentennial base to our pages devoted to Optional and Reserved-Number plates, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier; added images of three plates to the first new page described in the Nov. 28 entry.

Fri., Nov. 28

Began creating a new page upon which will be shown photographs of examples of general-issue auto license plates from every two-letter series issued since the format was introduced with plate AA-0000 in April 1997 (click here for a sneak preview); also began creating what will be a rather short, simple page (to be launched in conjunction with our year-end update on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1) that will serve as a central directory of all pages that include noteworthy content about current Washington, D.C. plates.

Thur., Nov. 27

Completed and posted our new page about changes that were made to District of Columbia auto license plates from September 2001 through October 2002.

Sun., Nov. 23

Began preparing images of 2000 Base plates that will be featured on a new page that we hope to post this week about the several changes that were made to District of Columbia auto license plates from September 2001 through October 2002.

Sat., Nov. 22

Added images of number 29 passenger car plates provided by Charlie Gauthier from 1923, 1930, and 1935 near the top of our Reserved-Number Plates page and to the appropriate sections of our pages devoted to details of D.C. plates by decade.

Sat., Nov. 15

Added images of 1991, 1993, and 1994 reserved-number plates to our Reserved-Number Plates page.

Thur., Nov. 13

Added images of 1979, 1985, and 1988 reserved-number plates to our Reserved-Number Plates page.

Tue., Nov. 11

Modified our Reserved-Number Plates page to accept images of a single plate from every year since 1969; began adding images with the posting of images of 1977, 1978, and 2007 plates (the 2007 image replacing an image of a plate on a car).

Sun., Nov. 9, 2008

Completed replacement of registration number format tables on our 1950s and 1960s Plates pages with explanatory text.

Sun., Oct. 19

Began text in the 1957-63 Registration Numbers section of our 1950s Plates page in which the question of whether 1957-63 R-prefix plates are general-issue passenger or non-passenger (rental car) plates is discussed.

Mon., Oct. 13, 2008

Replaced tables in which registration number information for 1956 through 1959 plates was presented on our 1950s Plates page with more appropriate text and a reference, with respect to 1957-1959 plates, to the new text section in which plate numbers used from 1957-1963 are described; substantially modified text on our Reserved-Number Plates page in which numbers considered to be reserved from 1935 through 1956 are discussed.

Mon., Sept. 29

Replaced tables in which registration number information for the 1953-55 baseplate was presented on our 1950s Plates page with more appropriate text and a reference to the text section in which plate numbers used from 1948-1952 are described.

Sun., Sept. 28

Replaced tables in which registration number information for 1950, 1951, and 1952 was presented on our 1950s Plates page with more appropriate text and a reference to the new text section in which plate numbers used from 1948-1952 are described; added images of 1951 and 1952 non-passenger plates that already appeared elsewhere on the site to our 1950s Plates page.

Sat., Sept. 27

Completed text in which plate numbers used from 1948-1952 are described as discussed in the Sept. 22 entry immediately below; integrated this change in sections of our 1940s Plates page in which plates of 1948 and 1949 are described.

Thur., Sept. 25

Continued to work on text in which plate numbers used from 1948-1952 are described as discussed in the Sept. 22 entry immediately below.

Mon., Sept. 22

Modified text in which passenger plate numbers of 1918 through the late 1940s are described on our pages dedicated to plates of those decades (1920s, 1930s, 1940s) in order to clarify the significance of registration numbers provided as the lowest and highest numbers observed of each year or multi-year base; began creating a section in which plate numbers used from 1948-1952 are described that will, when complete, replace tables in which this data is provided in separate sections for plates of each year on the series of pages referenced above.

Tue., Sept. 9

Altered image of exp. 2008 license plate sticker on our Stickers page in order for it to be more accurately sized as compared to other stickers pictured.

Fri., Sept. 5

Added a new section, Purple Heart Recipient, to our Non-Pass. Plates page based upon the discovery by Andrew Pang of an example, of which he has provided a photograph, of this heretofore unknown type in use; added to our Year-by-Year Guide to D.C. Plates an image of an auto plate isssued early this year, courtesy of J. Reid Williamson; modified table of approximate registration numbers issued annually since 2001 on our 2000 Baseplate page to indicate that the cutoff point between 2005 and 2006 is at about plate number CK-0100 based upon data submitted by Andrew Pang; made other changes to cutoff points in the aforementioned table based upon data collected recently.

Mon., Sept. 1, 2008

Made changes to most pages of the site to effectively eliminate our page from which detail pages about the six multi-year baseplates issued since 1968 were previously accessed; integrated revised home and Pre-1966 Plates pages, the latter of which now serves as a year-by-year guide to D.C. auto plates of all years issued since they were first issued; made other changes to links as necessary to reflect revised site structure.

Sat., August 30

Undertook certain site organization tasks in order to prepare for posting of a revised version of our Pre-1966 Plates page as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Fri., August 29

Added two final images to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry; also made other changes to this page in preparation for its being activated; added images to page soon to be unveiled upon which pre-1918 license plates are discussed.

Thur., August 28

Added images of four auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Tue., August 26

Added images of four auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Fri., August 22

Added images of five auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Thur., August 21

Added images of three auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Wed., August 20

Added images of four auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Sun., August 17

Added images of six auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Mon., August 11

Added images of six auto plates to the page presently being modified as discussed in the August 10 entry.

Sun., August 10

Began modifications to our Pre-1966 Plates page that, when complete, will result in this page being the location from which detailed information about D.C. plates of all years since 1903 will be accessed. The most time-consuming task is adding images of auto plates of the last 35 years to the bottom of the year-by-year photo gallery, which presently ends at 1973. For a sneak preview of this work click here.

Sat., August 9

Moved information and images about 1966 baseplates that previously resided on a dedicated page to the bottom of our newer page dedicated to plates of the 1960s; added new information to this section; modified other pages as required to support this change; modified and copied onto other decade-by-decade pages a table of links that may be used to reach other pages in the series.

Fri., August 8

Began modifying the page devoted to the 1966 Baseplate in order that it conform to the format used on five pages recently posted upon which 1918 through 1965 plates and their numbering are described.

Thur., August 7

Completed and posted our new page upon which D.C. plates used during the 1920s are pictured and described; modified our Pre-1966 Plates page by adding links to reach the new page and by removing text that became redundant when it was launched; modified text about registration numbers and links as deemed necessary on our relatively new page upon which plates of the 1930s are described due to the addition of the 1920s plates page and, more specifically, its section in which the numbering of 1918-1926 plates is discussed; added to the bottom of all five pages in our new series of pages about D.C. auto plates and their registration numbers links to each of the pages. DCplates.net appreciates the willingness of Eric Tanner to share with us on the five aforementioned pages results of his research on District of Columbia registration numbers.

Mon., August 4

Continued to work on page discussed in July 30 entry.

Sun., August 3

Continued to work on page discussed in July 30 entry.

Sat., August 2, 2008

Continued to work on page discussed in July 30 entry.

Wed., July 30

Began working on a new page upon which license plates issued from January 1918 through December 1929 are discussed in more detail than elsewhere on the site.

Fri., July 25

Completed and posted our new page upon which D.C. plates used during the 1930s are pictured and described; modified our Pre-1966 Plates page by adding links to reach the new page and by removing text that became redundant when it was launched; modified links as deemed necessary on our relatively new page upon which plates of the 1940s are described due to the addition of the 1930s plates page and, more specifically, its section in which the numbering of 1935-1947 plates is discussed.

Thur., July 24

Continued to work on page discussed in July 17 entry.

Wed., July 23

Continued to work on page discussed in July 17 entry.

Sun., July 20

Continued to work on page discussed in July 17 entry.

Thur., July 17

Began working on a new page upon which license plates issued from January 1930 through February 1940 are discussed in more detail than elsewhere on the site.

Wed., July 16

Completed and posted our new page upon which D.C. plates used during the 1940s are pictured and described; modified our Pre-1966 Plates page by adding links to reach the new page and by removing text that became redundant when it was launched; corrected data about general-issue passenger registration numbers used on 1950, 1951, 1952, and 1953 plates on our page dedicated to D.C. plates of the 1950s.

Sun., July 6

Continued to work on page discussed in July 1 entry.

Wed., July 2

Continued to work on page discussed in July 1 entry.

Tue., July 1, 2008

Began working on a new page upon which license plates issued from March 1940 through March 1950 are discussed in more detail than elsewhere on the site.

Sun., June 29

Added to one of our Capital Gallery captions information about the numerous toll barriers that were encountered on motor trips in the early 20th century; modified text in various sections of our Presidential Inauguration page to account for increases in the number of plates of various years known to exist documented by Charlie Gauthier; added to our introduction to photographs taken by Howard Fisk a paragraph about the display of non-D.C. plates on vehicles based within Washington.

Thur., June 12

Added to our Pre-1966 Plates page an image of a 1927 auto plate (no. G-5593) of a die variety not previously shown on the site.

Wed., June 11

Added to our discussion of Historic Motor Vehicle plates an image of the relatively new, flat style base photographed by J.Reid Williamson in the 3300 block of Denver Ave., SE on April 18, 2008.

Fri., June 6, 2008

Added images of 1984, 1986, and 1987 U.S. Senate Staff permits provided by Charlie Gauthier to our page dedicated to this permit type; added images of the new 2008-09 Annual Special Hauling Permit photographed by Andrew Pang and scenes captured by J. Reid Williamson in which 2007-08 ASHPs are visible on construction vehicles to our page dedicated to this permit type; added a new section, with photographs by J. Reid Williamson, to our Non-Passenger Types page for a heretofore unknown type, Handicapped Disabled American Veteran; began preparing a new page in our Capital Traffic section that will be comprised of current-day D.C. motoring scenes taken by J. Reid Williamson.

Fri., May 30

Added images of 1975-76, 1980, and 1981-82 U.S. Senate Staff permits provided by Charlie Gauthier to our page dedicated to this permit type.

Thur., May 29

Added an image of Howard Fisk provided by Charlie Gauthier to our Capital Traffic page upon which Mr. Fisk's work as Automobile Editor of the Washington Star beginning in 1907 is introduced; added to our Truck and Trailer Types page images of Apportioned plates in use, courtesy of J. Reid Williamson.

Wed., May 28

Added images of U.S. Congress Staff permits from 1964 and 1985-86 to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier.

Fri., May 23

Added to the Organization Plate Program section of our Optional Plates page an image of a Kappa Alpha Psi plate photographed by J. Reid Williamson.

Tue., May 20

Added images taken by J. Reid Williamson of examples of the 2008-09 reserved-number plate to our Reserved-Number page and the 2007-08 Dealer plate to our Dealer page; also added both images to our page dedicated to the Current ("Taxation") Base.

Mon., May 19

Added images showing the March 2008 equivalent of a Sept. 1909 scene included in our Capital Traffic gallery, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier.

Sun., May 18

Began organizing 375 images of Washington, D.C. plates in use recently taken and contributed by J. Reid Williamson, many of which will be added to the site in the coming months.

Thur., May 15

An image of a 1983 Insurance Certificate provided by Skip Lackie has been added to our 1978 Baseplate page.

Wed., May 14

Added to one of our Ephemera pages images of the contents of a 1984 registration renewal notice mailing that includes information about the staggered registration system then being introduced and that has been provided by Skip Lackie.

Mon., May 12

Continued to work on the preparation of images of documents that comprise a 1983 registration renewal mailing for presentation on our Ephemera page.

Thur., May 8

Began preparing images of documents that comprise a 1983 registration renewal mailing for presentation on our Ephemera page.

Thur., May 1, 2008

Added image of a 1984 renewal envelope, complete with 1985 stickers and a registration certificate, to our page dedicated to the subject of plate validation stickers courtesy of Skip Lackie.

Sun., April 20

DCplates.net is taking a brief hiatus from posting new content on the site in order to organize its collection of District of Columbia license plates and materials recently contributed. In the past few months we've received a number of interesting plates, registration-related paper items, and 1920s photographs of D.C. plates in use. We hope to post new content by the end of this month, but if you don't see new material before then, expect regular updates to begin in early May.

Thur., April 10

Added images of 1995 and 1996 U.S. Congress Staff permits and a 1932 Congressional permit press photo from the collection of Charlie Gauthier to our page dedicated to this permit type. These changes conclude our current updates to this page.

Tue., April 8

Added images of U.S. Congress Staff permits from 1992, 1993, and 1994 that belong to Shannon Dickinson to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier.

Sun., April 6

Added images of U.S. Congress Staff permits provided by Charlie Gauthier to our page dedicated to this permit type: 1987 and 1988 permits from the collection of Charlie Gauthier; 1990 and 1991 permits from the collection of Shannon Dickinson.

Sat., April 5

Added images of 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, and 1987 U.S. Congress Staff permits from the collection of Charlie Gauthier to our page dedicated to this permit type.

Fri., April 4

Added images of U.S. Congress Staff permits from 1977-78, 1978-79, and 1981-82 that belong to Shannon Dickinson, and a 1980-81 permit from the collection of Charlie Gauthier, to our page dedicated to this permit type courtesy of Charlie.

Tue., April 1, 2008

Enhanced several captions on our page of 1940s and 1950s D.C. street scenes thanks to historical information provided by Skip Lackie.

Sat., March 29

Added images of U.S. Senate Staff permits from 1972-73, 1973-74, 1976-77, and 1979 that belong to Shannon Dickinson to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier. The 1976-77 permit replaces a permit of the same year that had been posted on Dec. 26, 2006.

Thur., March 27

Added images of U.S. Senate Staff permits from 1968, 1970, and 1971-72 that belong to Shannon Dickinson to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier.

Sun., March 23

Added images of U.S. Congress Staff permits from 1961, 1963, and 1966 to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier.

Fri., March 21

Added images of U.S. Congress Staff permits from 1960, 1962, 1970, and 1973-74 that belong to Shannon Dickinson to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier; also reformatted page.

Thur., March 20

Added images of 88th, 92nd, 93rd, and 94th (House of Rep.) Congressional permits from the collection of Shannon Dickinson to our page dedicated to this permit type, courtesy of Charlie Gauthier.

Tue., March 18

Added images of permits used by members of the 84th, 86th, and 87th (House of Rep.) Congress from the collection of Shannon Dickinson to our page devoted to Congressional Permits with the assistance of Charlie Gauthier.

Fri., March 14

Added images of non-passenger plates to our new page dedicated to 1960-1966 plates.

Tue., March 11

Completed and launched a new page upon which license plates issued from April 1960 through March 1966 are discussed in more detail than elsewhere on the site.

Fri., March 7

Completed and launched a new page upon which license plates of the 1950s are discussed in more detail than elsewhere on the site.

Tue., March 4, 2008

Added 1923 image of a hearse with a six-digit license plate of that year to our Pre-1966 Plates page; modified adjacent text based upon the discovery of this evidence of a plate as early as 1923 with a six-digit number.

Wed., Feb. 27

Added image of a rare D.C. Government Motorcycle plate photographed in use by Andrew Pang to a new type section added to our Government-Owned Types page.

Sun., Feb. 24

Added 1923 image of a truck with a visible license plate of that year to our Commercial (Truck) Plates page; added a second page of close-up images of photos in our DCscenes series.

Fri. Feb. 22

Continued to work on page discussed in Feb. 21 entry.

Thur. Feb. 21

Continued to work on new page discussed in Feb. 1 entry. The scope of this page has been narrowed to include only plates of the 1950s, and other pages will be added, after the 1950s page has been completed, to cover plates of other decades.

Wed., Feb. 20

Added a modern image of a 1910 scene included in Gallery 10-3 of our Capital Traffic section, courtesy of J. Ray Frank and Charlie Gauthier; created dedicated page for modern images of early motoring scenes shown elsewhere on the site.

Mon. Feb. 4

Continued to work on new page discussed in Feb. 1 entry.

Sun., Feb. 3

Added images to our home and Dealer plate pages that show a pair of brand new 1922 Gardner automobiles being demonstrated in deep snow on the mall.

Fri., Feb. 1, 2008

Continued to work on page upon which plate composition and registration number data is being collected. Click here for a sneak preview. (The composition and layout of this page is expected to be changed before it is considered complete, and some data on the page in its present form may be incorrect or incomplete.)

Wed., Jan. 30

Added to the Organizational Plates section of our Optional Plates page an image of a heretofore unknown design, Morehouse College Alumni Association, a type that does not appear on a list of available organizational plates on the D.C. DMV's Web site, yet an example of which was photographed in use by Andrew Pang; added another image provided by Andrew in which three vehicles with D.C. Government plates are shown.

Thur., Jan. 24

Added image of a current base disabled motorist plate photographed by J. Reid Williamson to our Non-Passenger page; commenced preparation of a new page (which is not yet online and which may evnetually be divided into two or more pages) upon which details about the numbering of District of Columbia vehicle registrations will be discussed.

Sat., Jan. 19

Added image of undated (late 1970s) motorcycle plate to our Type Sets page; replaced existing image of 2006 reserved-number passenger plate on our page dedicated to that subject with a better image, courtesy of Erik Bos; replaced existing image of 1974 base trailer plate on our Truck and Trailer types and Type Sets pages with a better image; added to our 1984 Baseplate page a set of images in our DCscenes series taken by J. Reid Williamson of consecutively-numbered 1984 plates still in use as of spring 2007.

Thur., Jan. 17

Added images of Reserved-Number Passenger and Sample plates to the 1974 base section of our Type Sets page; also added image of a 1978 base Reserved-Number Passenger plate to the 1978 base section of the same page and to our Reserved-Number page.

Sun., Jan. 13

Replaced existing image of 1984 base Medical Doctor plate on our Non-Passenger page and in the 1984 base section of our Type Sets page with a better image provided by Erik Bos; added image of 1984 base reserved-number plate to our Type Sets and Reserved-Number plates page; added image of 1984 base sample plate our Type Sets page.

Wed., Jan. 9

Added image of 1984 base Solid Waste plate to our Truck and Trailer types and Type Sets pages.

Tue., Jan. 8

Completed and posted altered graphics to accomplish the change discussed immediately below.

Mon., Jan. 7

Began altering site graphics in order to effectively change the name of DCplates.com to DCplates.net. After careful consideration it was determined that to remove the ".com" extension from the site name would substantially lessen the risk that individuals unfamiliar with this site and others like it might erroneously conclude that some sort of commercial endeavor is conducted herein. The site has always been accessible through both URLs and will continue to "reside" at DCplates.com, but from a presentation standpoint the alias DCplates.net will be used henceforth. Text references to the site on its pages will be changed as they are encountered as other changes are made, but prominent graphics will be changed today and tomorrow in order that the most noticeable references will include the ".net" extension.

Fri., Jan. 4

Created a new page upon which we will post, hopefully on a steady basis, images of reserved-number plates (auto plates numbered 1-1250 that are replaced annually) in use. The first five posted were photographed by J. Reid Williamson.

Tue., Jan. 1, 2008

Added images of 1974 passenger, personalized, and bus plates to our Type Sets page; also added the bus plate, along with a current (Taxation) base bus plate, to the bus section of our Public Service Types page; added image of an expires 1975 sticker to our sticker gallery.