ARLINGTON, Va. (WUSA9) --The Center for Local History at Arlington Public Library is trying to solve a mystery regarding 13 men in football gear standing outside an arched doorway with the words "Public School."

According to library officials, the photo was found "in an atticofhouse on 21st Street South, in the Arlington Ridge/Aurora Highlands area." The photo was then donated to the Center for Local History.

There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about the photo, including who the men are, where they are standing and when the photo was taken, say officials.

"One man holds a football, upon which is painted '04.' The '04; suggests that they were either playing in 1904, or were from the class of 1904. But what other details back up that assumption? How do we know that '04' wasn't painted onto the ball for some other reason?" according to a post on the library's website.

Officials noted some of the nose guards themen wore and did some digging. "I eventually found our nose guard patented by the Morrill Company in 1891, which according to this page from the University of Michigan was for sale in the Spaulding catalog in 1902. Thus, we find support for the 1904 date," according to the same post.

That's about where the certainty stops. Officials have been unable to determine what building is in the photo, saying that no Arlington-area schools had that archway with "Public School" etched into them and that"there was no public high school in the county at that time, so young men of this age would likely be going to school- and perhaps playing football for that school- at high schools in the District."

Now, they are asking for the public's help. Do you know anything about this photo?