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.
Vintage photos of:

My mother's parents are seen here getting ready to drive home to Sacramento after a weekend visit in 1964. We lived in the San Francisco East Bay hills for over 20 years and this house had a wonderful panoramic view of the Bay. San Francisco can be seen in the left distance as can the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance at right. Grandpa's car was a 1958 Cadillac - he was a Cadillac man for years. The car down the street is a c.1954 Nash Ambassador. As a toddler I would stand out on our deck and stare out at that incredible view. View full size.

February 1940. "Auto transport passing through Eufaula, Oklahoma." Now playing at the Chief: "Hunchback of Notre Dame." 35mm nitrate negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

June 29, 1925. "Dr. H.C. Hayes of U.S. Naval Research Lab, Bellevue, D.C." I'll bet that knob goes up to 11. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.

"A.J. Smith Construction Co." An industrial building somewhere in Detroit circa 1912. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

The Jersey Shore circa 1910. "Bathers at Atlantic City." Many of them gamely striking a pose for the camera as they peer into the existential void. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

May 1938. "John Pope, son of farmer, at Irwinville Farms, Georgia." Indoor plumbing was an improvement for many of the sharecropper families resettled here by the government during the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Photo by John Vachon for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

New York circa 1905. "Coney Island -- Luna Park promenade." Elephants on parade. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.