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.

Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Hoover, John Edgar." The future head of the FBI in his early 20s. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.
1917 was the year J. Edgar received his law degree and joined the Justice Department. We're seeing him at the start of a career with the DOJ that lasted until his death in 1972.
as he was still living at home when this picture was taken and would continue to do so until her death in 1938, when he was 43.
Today's Top 5