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.

View of ruined buildings through porch of the Circular Church at 150 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina. April 1865. View full size. Wet collodion glass plate, half of stereograph pair. Photographer unknown. While much of the damage shown here is from shelling by the Federal Navy, the Circular Church itself was heavily damaged by fire in 1861. Alternate view.
Today's Top 5