Experience LIFE's visual record of the 20th century by exploring the most iconic photographs from one of the most famous private photo collections in the world.

See how fashion, family life, sports, holiday celebrations, media, and other elements of pop culture have changed through the decades.

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.

LIFE magazine was fortunate enough to visit Cabo Blanco in 1959, when the club was still in its heyday. Staff photographer Frank Schershel captured the fisherman out at sea and along the shore.

In 1968 LIFE magazine summed up the appeal of French philosopher and author Albert Camus with a single sentence: “Camus looked directly into the darkness as saw sun—the human spirit.” The line …

Here, LIFE.com presents pictures made in the Nevada desert by photographer Loomis Dean shortly after a 1955 atomic bomb test. These are not “political” pictures.

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.

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

The photos by George Silk capture that world in vivid color, and Moser’s words bring to life the characters trying to make a life in the Outback. One cattle rancher, Bill Waudby, talked about the dry …