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:

Winsome tots in Easter togs on the White House grounds in 1922. Does it get any cuter than this? We shall see. Now get to work on those eggs. View full size.

"Linda May 1952." She's in her Junior Gardener overalls, and spring is in the air. Another of these 35mm Kodachromes that I found on eBay. View full size.

March 31, 1939. Washington, D.C. "Senate Majority Leader crowns Cherry Blossom Queen. Climaxing the annual Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival in Potomac Park today, Senate Majority Leader Alben W. Barkley placed the crown on the head of Peggy Townsend, Cherry Blossom Queen. Thousands of visitors view the beautiful blossoms every year." Harris & Ewing photo. View full size.

Whisk brooms and brooches,
Malteds and sundaes.Girls in straw hats and
Chicago Mondays.Traffic lights flashing, streetcar bell clangs.
These are a few of our favorite thangs.
July 1941. "Chicago. Waiting for a streetcar." 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.

December 1936. "Scene on Bathgate Avenue in the Bronx." At the K&K Grocery, a nice display of Crax and Jell-O. Photo by Arthur Rothstein. View full size.

December 1936. "New York. Scene from the Bronx tenement district from which many of the New Jersey homesteaders have come." There are a million stories in the Naked City, and a lot of them seem to involve laundry. Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1926. "Ford Motor Co." is all the caption says. Who can pinpoint our location using the visual clues provided? Extra credit for Street View links. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.