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.

I don't know much about the photo other than it was taken in Holland, Michigan, at my great-grandpa's business where they made and installed cement septic tanks. You can see some toward the right of the photo. The car is a 1957 Oldsmobile. Also note the boat in the building. 35mm color slide. View full size.

Pique nique en France, famille Coutant, 1935. View full size.

Ma grand mere maternel, Raymonde Marie, Lille, France, 1912. View full size.

Mes parents Liliane et Jackie Coutant, Paris, 1952. View full size.
Ma mere et mon oncle en Vespa 125 en 1954, France, Blanc-Mesnil. View full size.

This is my great-grandmother, Elise Hindermann Fallon in Mexico in 1941. She was going to see a special production of Wagner's Ring Cycle and had a car and driver take her and a friend from New Orleans to Mexico City. At one point, they were chased by bandits on horseback. She was a bit of a pistol (she eloped with my great-grandfather).

I believe this was taken around Angels Camp, California, around 1903. The elderly man's name was likely Francis Sprigg Chapman, my wife's great-grandfather, and former city clerk in Lassen County, California. View full size.