Carol M. Highsmith Archive photos from the 1980s

Marquee of the historic Chicago Theater, which opened in 1921, Chicago, Illinois

Market Square condominum development on Pennsylvania Avenue at the site of the city's historic Center Market, Washington, D.C

Massive bridge-like arch at Arches National Park, Utah

Masonic Scottish Rite Chamber, Washington, D.C

Maryland State House located in Annapolis, Maryland

Massage table at the Fordyce Bathhouse, once the most opulent of such establishments along Bathouse Row in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Maryland office building. Capital Office Park. 6404 Ivy Lane, Greenbelt, MD 20770, United States.

Masonic Temple, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Martin Luther King, Jr., inscription at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama

Maryland State Monument, Antietam Battlefield, near Sharpsburg, Maryland

Maryland State Monument at Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Maryland

Maryland Fire Museum Lutherville, Maryland

Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, Washington, D.C

MCI Center (later Verizon Center) sports arena in downtown Washington, D.C.

Mayor Marion Barry speaks at the opening of The Shops at National Place at 13th and F Streets, Washington, D.C., in the 1980s

McDonald's store #1 located west of Chicago, Illinois

McFaddin-Ward House, a Beaux-Arts Colonial Revival style house in Beaumont, Texas

McCauley Road Bridge, built about 1900, Rowlandsville, Maryland

McMillan Reservoir supplies most of the municipal water for Washington, D.C

McDonald Observatory, operated by the University of Texas at Austin, and located in Fort Davis, Texas

McFaddin House, built for one of Texas's oldest and wealthiest families in Beaumont, Texas

Matching, but boarded-up duplexes, New Orleans, Louisiana

MCI Center (later Verizon Center) sports arena in downtown Washington, D.C

Meadow in California's coastal mountains

Meeting room at the Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

Medallion on a doorknob, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C

Measurement instrument, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C

Melodrama performance, Manitou Spring, Colorado

Memorial Bridge with Rosslyn, Virginia in the background

Melrose Diner, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Memorial Civil War Arch to War Correspondents at Crampston's Gap, Burkittsville, Maryland

Memorial to Lives Lost at Sea, Washington D.C

Memorial to the brave souls of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 after a terrorist attack

Memorial to President Kennedy, Dallas, Texas

Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery to the "Rough Riders," Arlington, Virginia

Members Room, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C

Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia

Memorial gate, where people from all over the world have left momentos to honor the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist hijacking of Flight 93. Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Memorial Bridge with Rosslyn, Virginia, in the background

Members' Room in the Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C

Memorial to nurses who died in the Spanish-American War at Arlington Cemetery, Virginia

Memorial to Women in Military Service, Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

Menagerie of carousel animals, Burlington, North Carolina

Menacing representation of the Carolina Panthers' mascot, Charlotte, North Carolina

Mercedes Benz automobile dealership

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Mercer Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Mexican Cultural Institute. Interior mural on 2nd floor: Rural scene "Popocatepeti," by artist. Washington, D.C

Mexican Embassy elegance, Washington, D.C

Metro train on Washington, D.C.'s subway system arrives at the suburban Twinbrook station in Rockville, Maryland

Mesa Verde pueblos, Cortez, Colorado

Mermaid in her element in an antique and collectibles dealer's yard in Arizona

Metal artist at work on a creation in the Warehouse District of New Orleans, Louisiana

Miami Beach, Florida

Michelson Hall, a building at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

MGM Grand Hotel, Casino, and Theme Park, Las Vegas, Nevada

Miami skyline from Biscayne Bay, Florida

Mexican Embassy in Washington. D.C

Miami Metromover, Miami, Florida