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.

Lyman Ferry Farm, Mentor, Ohio. Glass plate negative taken by B. H. Carpenter, c. 1914. View full size.
I spent most weekends during my childhood in Mentor, Ohio -- an overdeveloped suburban sprawl by the 1980s. I know that it used to be farmlands, marsh and larger country estates. Still, amazing if you are familiar with the contemporary area.
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