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.

Summer 1962. We stopped in the historic Gold Rush town of Mariposa, California on our way to Yosemite. My mother, grandmother and father are standing at the corner of the Schlageter Hotel, built around 1859-1866, while I'm across the street taking this shot on 127 Kodacolor with my Brownie Starmite. I was about to turn 16, and later that year I finally graduated to 35mm. Neither the 1959 Ford wagon or the fabulous 1957 Oldsmobile hardtop belonged to us. Our 1956 Rambler wagon is parked out of sight somewhere. View full size.
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