by Jason Bitner and Alex Kotlowitz

Starting in the mid-1940s and for more than 25 years, photographer Frank Pease took tens of thousands of black-and-white photos at his Muralcraft Studio, including engagement photos, baby pictures and family portraits — all of the people of LaPorte, Indiana — a town just south of Lake Michigan.

Pease kept thousands of uncollected proofs in boxes. He died in 1970, leaving behind the forgotten proofs. A restaurant owner downstairs from the studio inherited the collection when he purchased the building.  He decorated his B & J's American Cafe with some of Pease's photos, and put the rest in a back dining room for customers to browse.

Jason Bitner, co-founder of Found magazine, happened across the photos at B & J's. He sorted through all 18,000 photos and, struck by their beauty and the milestones they marked, compiled some of his favorites into a book called LaPorte, Indiana.

190 pages. Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press