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., 1916. "Convention of former slaves. Annie Parram, age 104; Anna Angales, age 105; Elizabeth Berkeley, 125; Sadie Thompson, 110." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

Circa 1907. "The 'W' --- Walden's Ridge, Tennessee." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Kentucky -- forward gun turrets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Edward Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

"H. Kazenarek, woman baseball player." Her teammates included Belle North and Regina Gross. 5x7 glass negative, Bain News Service. View full size.

Circa 1906. "City Hall, Louisville, Kentucky." Continuing our survey of public buildings in the Derby City. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C., 1924. "Van Tine & Johnson." Harry Van Tine and Joe Johnson in a photographic survey of Washington-area lensmen. View full size.

November 1938. "Shack of day laborer who works in sugarcane fields near New Iberia. He comes from a parish in northern Louisiana." 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.