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:

August 13, 1957. "Tamarack Lodge, Greenfield Park, New York. Lobby to cages." Another defunct Catskills resort. Photo by Samuel H. Gottscho. View full size.

August 1942. Corpus Christi, Texas. "Mrs. Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department of the Naval Air Base, supervises Chas. Potter, a NYA trainee from Michigan. After eight weeks of training he will go into civil service. Should he be inducted or enlist in the armed service, he will be valuable to mechanized units of the Army or Navy." Pay attention, sonny -- you might end up flying this thing. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Howard Hollem, Office of War Information. View full size.

Washington, D.C., circa 1925. "Future home of Federal-American National Bank." Seven years after moving into its new quarters in 1926 the bank collapsed, financially speaking, although the building still stands at 14th and G streets. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.

July 1942. "Sunbathers on the grass next to the municipal swimming pool on Sunday." The pasty white underbelly of wartime Washington. Medium format negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.

July 1942. Washington, D.C. "Spectators at a baseball game: wives, sweethearts and children of the players; passersby and regular fans." Medium format nitrate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.

July 1938. "House in Negro section of Baltimore, Maryland." Crabs and clams to go, please. Medium-format nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size.

May 1938. "Houses in Atlanta, Georgia." Last seen here, two years earlier in a picture snapped by Walker Evans. An interesting study in contrasts, or lack thereof. Medium-format nitrate negative by John Vachon. View full size.