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.

1909. "Mid-winter carnival, 'storming the fortress,' Upper Saranac Lake, New York." Detroit Publishing Company glass negative. View full size.
Truth, truth. I was up there in early September one year and almost froze. I'm told they still have good midwinter parties up there. In the 1900s there were a lot of TB sanatoriums in the area; the cold clean air was good for the lungs. Al Capone used to visit his tubercular brother at Saranac Lake.
Today's Top 5