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Archive: 2012 (57 Posts)

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Happy New Year, 2013!

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

One hundred years ago, Leighton Budd created this illustration for the January 1, 1913 edition of Puck, the humor and satire magzine. It pictures two fashionable young women stopping by a snowbank so that one of them can record her New Year’s resolutions: “1913 No Jealousy No Anger No Flirt.” Alas, it is unclear whether …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Caught Our Eyes: Last Minute Shopping

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Have you left your holiday shopping to the last minute? Hoping you can find that perfect gift just minutes before the stores close? Well, it turns out shopping on Christmas Eve – and fighting the crowds to do it – is nothing new, if this photograph from December 24, 1920 is any indication: Several things …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Puck Cartoons: “Launched at Last!”

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

The following is a guest post by Woody Woodis, Cataloging Specialist, Prints & Photographs. Imagine the pleasure of spending your days looking at cartoons created over a century ago. That opportunity landed on my desk in the form of a digitization and cataloging project of over 2,500 color cartoon illustrations published in Puck magazine between …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Caught Our Eyes: One Tall Cowboy

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

A pair of pictures from the Harris & Ewing Collection caught the eye of Prints & Photographs Division reference technician, Jonathan Eaker.  He shared them with the comment, “Really tall cowboy!” I looked at the first picture. On the basis of the length of the chaps, alone, not to mention the interested stares of the …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

“Down to Earth”: Exhibition about Environmental Issues

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

 The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. The renowned editorial cartoon artist Herblock (1909-2001) was a vocal advocate for the environment throughout his long career. The new exhibition “Down to Earth” presents a fascinating look at toxic waste, air pollution, and land conservation by pairing Herblock’s hard hitting …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

On Thanksgiving Day, 1940, Farm Security Administration photographer Jack Delano shot a series of pictures documenting the celebration of the holiday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Crouch in Ledyard, Connecticut. In this clever composition, the tantalizing desserts fill the foreground while the feasting family is reflected in the mirror. We wish you all …

The Visual Legacy of Jack E. Boucher, Architectural Photographer

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

  In a career spanning forty-six years, Jack E. Boucher traveled through forty-nine states and two U.S. territories to photograph for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and its sister projects, the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS). Boucher passed away recently, so I asked colleagues here to share stories …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Glimpses of Soldiers’ Lives (American Civil War)

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division When you look at a soldier’s portrait from the American Civil War, have you ever wondered what that particular person, or his regiment, experienced?  For twenty of the Union and Confederate soldiers whose names survived with their photographs in the Liljenquist …