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.

August 1942. "As an NYA trainee working inside the nose of a PBY, Elmer J. Pace is learning the construction of Navy planes at Corpus Christi Naval Air Base, Texas." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem. View full size.
Today's Top 5