A traditional black Kentucky tobacco barn. Black barns raise the heat inside, aiding the curing of tobacco. Many got their color from creosote, which repelled termites. Soon many Kentucky barns were painted black just as a fashion statement.Carol M. Highsmith (born 1946) is a photographer, author, and publisher who has photographed all 50 of the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for 30 years. She specializes in documenting architecture, ranging from the monumental to the everyday and whimsical. Highsmith is donating her life ’s work of more than 100,000 images, copyright-free, to the Library of Congress, which established a rare one-person archive. Out of 14 million images, the Carol M. Highsmith collection is featured in the top six alongside of Mathew Brady and Dorethea Lange. Credit line: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.Credit line: Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.