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:

October 1939. "Saturday afternoon in Clarksdale, Mississippi Delta." 35mm nitrate negative by Marion Post Wolcott. View full size.

Circa 1901. "General view of Syracuse, N.Y." At center is the University Building on Washington Street. Panorama of five 8x10 inch glass plates. View full size.

October 1941. "At a small American Legion carnival just outside Bellows Falls, Vermont." Left turn only. 35mm nitrate negative by Jack Delano. View full size.

This 35mm Kodachrome found in a thrift store is dated August 1959 and bears the notation "Jim, Bristlecone." The color-coordinated Chevrolet truck and Traveleze trailer are a nice late-Fifties touch. View full size.

The New Hampshire coast circa 1905. "Rye Beach bathers." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

February 1940. Muskogee County, Oklahoma. "Farm boy eating pie which he bought at auction and which was made by the girl with whom he is sitting." Sometimes a delicious cherry pie is only the first course. Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

Circa 1955, our second example from a series of 8x10 photos labeled "Cadillac 1951-56" and bearing a "Ford Styling, Dearborn" ink stamp. View full size.