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.

Lake George, New York, circa 1908. "Main dining room, Fort William Henry Hotel." Two for dinner? Excellent. But there's a wait. View full size.
Not sure how this picture became so distorted. The chair, front right is leaning downhill along with the floor, yet the top of the chair appears level.
Or perhaps it's for cleaning up in a hurry.
Today's Top 5