These images give an fascinating insight into how far America has come since the 1970s - both in terms of fashion and how we take care of our environment.
The collection of photographs, taken between 1971 and 1977, suggest that Americans were not overly concerned by environmental hazards.
Children splash happily in Louisiana's Lake Charles next to chemical waste, cars lie rusting in ponds and factory chimneys belch smoke over the suburbs of Washington.
However, the environmental movement was slowly gaining momentum.
Stricter emissions tests were introduced for cars, people grew interested in environmentally-friendly technology and individuals began to fight back against pollution from fuel companies.
'Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project,' is currently on show at the National Archives in Washington until September 8.
Dangerous waters: Children bathe next to chemical plants where a large container lies close on the sand in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Murky: Children play outside in a yard at a home in Ruston, Washington in the shadow of a chimney belching with arsenic and lead residue
No slip-ups: A young woman watches as her car is given an emissions test on the exhaust in 1975 - the year the safety test went into effect
Dark times: The George Washington Bridge in heavy smog on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River
Backed up: Smog and heavy industry can be seen in Cleveland, Ohio in 1973
At the coal face: Miners head for the pit at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine in 1974
Back to the future: Men try out a car at the first Symposium on Low Pollution Power Systems Development in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Grime: Mary Workman shows a jar of contaminated drinking water that came from her well in 1973 after it was polluted by a coal company
On the road: The Hisler family in Colorado in 1972 opt for an alternative lifestyle living in their van
Gas guzzlers: A downtown parking lot in Cincinnati pictured in 1973 show the extremely large cars of the day that got low fuel mileage
Freight: Loaded Coal Cars Sit in the Rail Yards at Danville, West Virginia, near Charleston, awaiting shipment in April 1974
Litter: Trash and old tires litter the shore at Middle Branch of Baltimore Harbor in 1973
Billowing: Discarded automobile batters were routinely burned, pouring out massive clouds of chemicals and gasses
Art project: Empty Steel Beer and Soft Drink Cans Are Being Used to Build Experimental Housing near Taos, New Mexico. Designer Michael Reynolds stands next to a wall of them
Fruits of labor: Fruits and flowers at the outdoor market in Haymarket Square in May of 1973
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