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Archive: July 2014 (5 Posts)

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

World War I: The Picture Starts to Form

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

As I was trolling through Bain News Service photographs from 100 years ago, I couldn’t help but reflect on how hindsight shapes our view of pictures and their meaning. I stopped in my tracks at this photo from July 27, 1914, with its evocative depiction of cooling recreation on a warm day.  Despite the somewhat …

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

Touring French History through Political Cartoons

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Woody Woodis, Cataloger, Prints and Photographs Division Today, in honor of Bastille Day, or La Fête Nationale, marking the beginning of the French Revolution, we feature highlights from the French Political Cartoon Collection. This small but exemplary collection of 365 prints spans almost two centuries and touches on …

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

Object Lessons: Learning with Prints

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

School may be out for the summer, but around the Library of Congress there’s always something new to learn. This week I joined teachers attending one of the Library of Congress Summer Teacher Institute sessions to display examples of primary sources that might be suited to classroom exercises. It set me to reflecting on examples …

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

Feast Your Eyes: Floating Pies

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

The following is a guest post by Jan Grenci, Reference Specialist – Posters, Prints and Photographs Division. If you like history and you like pie, this poster could easily become one of your favorites. When Emanuel Leutze finished painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” in 1851 he probably never imagined his work being adapted for an …