The following is from the introduction to LIFE’s special tribute issue, Jimmy Carter: A Noble Life, which is available online and at newsstands. When James Earl Carter died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on …

Explore 1960s within the LIFE photography vault, one of the most prestigious & privately held archives from the US & around the World.

When LIFE magazine visited Big Sur in 1959, the Esalen Institute was three years from opening, but the coastal community had long been attracting free-thinking types.

The following is adapted from the introduction to LIFE’s newcspecial issue 100 Photographs: The Most Important Pictures of All Time and the Stories Behind Them, available at newsstands and online:

LIFE described the planning of the wedding as “a full-time job,” and Leen documented all that went into it. That included the dress shopping, the cake selection, the addressing of the invitations, and more.

Many of the images in this collection come from a 1940 shoot by legendary LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstadt that chronicled the beginning of boom times for Miami.

The breadth of the GE operations underlines the great variety of activity that legendary LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt documented when he gained access to the General Electric …

LIFE recalls the Orient Express of the last century through photographs made in 1950 -- evocative, atmospheric pictures from another time.

The following text is adapted from the introduction to LIFE’s new special issue The Smurfs, available at newsstands and online. In 2011, people around the world donned white caps and pants and painted …

The actress, born Bettyjane Greer, had actually been in LIFE magazine twice before that ’47 cover. In 1942 she appeared, unnamed, as one of three women modeling the uniforms of the W.A.A.C.s, the …