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.
A glassblower from Toledo OH, I've had a lifelong love affair with photography. I was introduced to the mysteries and magic of the darkroom when I was seven years old and was immediately hooked. Over the years I've become the family genealogist and archivist, inheriting thousands of photos, movies, and documents; some dating back to the mid-1800's. Besides being documentation of my family, these photos are a wonderful slice of Americana.