Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.

"Tom Thumb, full-length portrait, facing front, standing on table." Half-plate daguerreotype c. 1850-55 from the studio of Mathew Brady. View full size.
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