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.

Rufus Ingalls civil war photo that I have colorized from Shorpy. View full size.
The whole thing is mighty impressive, but the plants in the background make me want to weep with joy. Or possibly envy... They look like they're right out of an unaltered color photograph.
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