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.

This is my uncle, aunt, and cousins, when they lived outside Los Angeles. Some time after this photo was taken my aunt contracted polio and was eventually confined to an iron lung. We often glamorize the "good old days", but sometimes forget the other side of the story. In any event, everyone was dressed up and looking pretty spiffy when this photo was taken, perhaps it was on a Sunday after church. Taken on Kodachrome. View full size.
Today's Top 5