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 of my uncles Johnny (L), and Phil (C); and my father David (R), taken in 1950 in Columbia SC. Johnny and David were twins, both 15, and Phil was 2. The little "smiling boy" ornament behind Phil's left shoulder became a family heirloom until it was destroyed when my own house burned down in 2004. View full size.
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