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:

35mm Kodachrome from circa 1959 sent in by a contributor who found it in a thrift shop, and scanned by me. The wagon is a 1957 Chevrolet. View full size.

The Jersey Shore circa 1905. "Along the beach, Atlantic City, N.J." Note the radio mast at right on Young's Pier. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.

Circa 1905. "Summerville, South Carolina -- Walton Way." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Baltimore circa 1903. "Johns Hopkins University from Washington Monument." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Florida circa 1905. "Oliver W., the famous trotting ostrich, Florida Ostrich Farm, Jacksonville." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.

Augusta, Georgia, circa 1905. "The Albion." Please watch your step crossing the street. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

New York circa 1901. "The Great Coal Mine, Coney Island." From the book Coney Island and Astroland: "The Great Coal Mine was a 1,500-foot-long dark ride that enabled visitors to travel on coal cars through several levels of a dimly lit simulated mine. It opened in 1901 on the north side of Surf Avenue at West Tenth Street, was not very popular, and was soon replaced by L.A. Thompson's Oriental Scenic Railway." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size.