Roadside America

Several years ago, I discovered the John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive from the Library of Congress — a collection of roadside attractions photographed between 1968 and 2008.

• Archive: https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/john-margolies-roadside-america-photograph-archive

I wanted an easy way to use these images on websites, so I built a simple API that returns a random photo from the archive along with its description:

• Roadside America API: https://roadside-america.dumbprojects.com/

I also created a demo site that shows a random image from the collection:

• Demo Site: https://roadside-america.dumbprojects.com/demo/

It started as a small experiment — making historic archival photos easier to explore and reuse.

AI Disclaimer

This project was originally developed without the use of AI. It has since been updated to a more modern stack with the help of AI.