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Category: Photographs

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

Caught Our Eyes: No Getting Past the Dog Days

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

No, this is not a post bemoaning the sultry heat of late summer (sometimes referred to, apparently for astronomical reasons, as the “dog days”). The Prints & Photographs Division’s dog days are prompted by the realization that various staff members highlighted portraits of dogs (some with accompanying humans) on the division’s “Caught Our Eyes” wall, …

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

Behind the Scenes: A Rotating Digital Perspective

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Below is an interview with Vanathy Senthilkumar, who served on the Library of Congress Digital Conversion Team. Vanathy recently accepted a new job as a Librarian at the Government Printing Office, where we wish her the best of luck. Melissa: Like other members of the Library’s Digital Conversion Team, you serve on rotating details in …

Visualizing Southern Architecture in Story Maps

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Visual materials, such as photos, not only depict a place, but can also provide a deeper understanding of that place. While a single photo offers a single moment in the timeline of a place’s history, a group of photos of a larger region can suggest a much broader story, influenced by the connections between places …

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

Taking On Traffic: A Closer Look at the Signals

Posted by: Lara Szypszak

It might seem obvious that traffic control development paralleled the growing use of automobiles. Especially after World War I, an increase in traffic created a need for more systematic signals. The first traffic light in the United States was installed in 1914 in Cleveland and the first interconnected signal system was introduced in Salt Lake …

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

Caught Our Eyes: In the Eye Wear of the Beholder

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Digital Library Specialist Pete Richey spotted this intriguing photograph from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection and added it to our “Caught Our Eyes” wall, where staff share pictorial “finds” from Prints & Photographs Division collections. “When I first saw this photograph it piqued my interest. At first glance this photograph could either …

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

Movie Theater Etiquette: Ladies, Kindly Remove Your Hats

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Summer movie season is upon us! Many of us escape into a cool, dark theater to see the latest blockbuster film during these hot months. And while we wait for the feature to start, we are reminded onscreen to refrain from texting, talking and otherwise disturbing the rest of the audience. Well, in the course …

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

Camera and Locomotive: Two Tracks across the Continent: Seeing the Railroad in 3D

Posted by: Lara Szypszak

The following is the fifth in a series of guest posts by Micah Messenheimer, Associate Curator of Photography, Prints and Photographs Division, that discuss the parallel development of two technologies in the 19th century: railroads and photography. Capturing the entirety of the Central Pacific Railroad from 1864–69, photographer Alfred Hart (1816–1908) traveled east from Sacramento, …