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.

1951. Santa Barbara, California. "Lana Turner lunching by pool at the Coral Casino." Photo by Earl Theisen for Look magazine. View full size.

May 1942. Continuing the series last seen here. "Parris Island, South Carolina. Special Marine units learning how to bed down a big barrage balloon." Photos by Pat Terry and Alfred Palmer for the Office of War Information. View full size.

May 1942. "Greenbelt, Maryland, federal housing project. Mrs. Leslie Atkins preparing dinner in her kitchen, one end of which is the dining room. Notice the mangle and washing machine on either side of the stove." Medium format negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.

November 1936. Continuing the story of Mama's family. "Depression refugee family from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Arrived in California June 1936. Mother and three half-grown children; no father. Says the mother: 'Anybody wants to work can get by. But if a person loses their faith in the soil like so many of them back there in Oklahoma, then there ain't no hope for them. We're making it all right here, all but for the schooling, 'cause that boy of mine, he wants to go to the University'." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

February 9, 1955. "PS 122 playground, Kingsbridge Road and Bailey Avenue, the Bronx, New York. Brown & Blauwelt, engineers." Subcontractors: Cheerless & Grimm. Large-format negative by Samuel H. Gottscho. View full size.

1960. "Airline hostesses Sue Pharris, Sharon Moore and two other women watching the Jack LaLanne physical fitness show and exercising." From photos taken to illustrate the Look magazine article "TV's Nature Boy." Among this picture's mid-century markers: Polka-dots, a pole lamp, rabbit ears, flip-flops, sliding glass doors. View full size.

November 1936. "Depression refugee family from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Arrived in California June 1936. Mother and three half-grown children; no father." Photo by Dorothea Lange for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.