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.

June 1942. Workers on the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Dam hydro- electric project. View full size. 3.25 inch safety negative by Arthur Rothstein.

June 1942. Control Room of the TVA's Watts Bar Dam on the Tennessee River. View full size. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein.

"Watts Bar steam plant. Large opening leads to lobby which gives access to stairs, overlook balcony, and toilets. Lobby is separated from turbine hall by a similar glazed opening. A direct view can be had from outside toward impressive generators. Note hooded slits which take place of windows in boiler room. Design facilitates blackout." View full size. Circa 1942; photographer unknown.

June 1942. Excursion steamer Gordon C. Green of Cincinnati approaching the TVA's Wilson Dam in Alabama. View full size. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein.

April 1940. East Dubuque, Illinois. "Waiting for the train to Minneapolis." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size.

April 22, 1912. New York. Lolo (Michel) and Edmond Navratil, survivors of the Titanic disaster whose father went down with the ship. View full size. Lolo, the last remaining male survivor of the Titanic, died in 2001. G.G. Bain Collection.

Nov. 22, 1932. The Roxy Theatre on 49th Street. View full size. Photograph by Samuel H. Gottscho. 5x7 acetate negative, Gottscho-Schleisner Collection.