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.

My grandmother Elizabeth is standing in the front row between her mother, Augusta and her father, William. As I was told by my grandmother, this professional photograph was taken of the family because Augusta, at age 36, had to have all of her teeth removed. In those days, there were cases of persons dying from having their teeth extracted. Columbus, Ohio 1895. View full size
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