This month, we’re highlighting selections from the Library’s vast international poster collection on our Free to Use and Reuse page – and an animation contest. The posters we’re showcasing – on themes from travel, sports and entertainment to consumer goods and more – reflect a special collaboration between the Library and Poster House, a new …
A little more than a year ago, Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast as a category 4 storm, bringing damaging rain and flooding. Less than a month later, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico with heavy downpours and sustained winds of 155 miles an hour – only two miles an hour shy of a category 5 …
This is a guest post by Ryan Reft, a historian in the Manuscript Division. In recognition of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, he explores the role of baseball in the nation’s Japanese-American community. For more about baseball, check out our blog series counting down the weeks until the June 29 opening of “Baseball Americana,” a …
For more than two centuries, American library architecture aspired to accommodate the physical dimensions of books and the furniture and spaces designed to store and display them. “American Libraries 1730–1950”—a new book by Kenneth Breisch—celebrates the history of that architecture, from classical temples to ivy-covered campus citadels to modern glass boxes—whose roofs now house more …
This is a post by Cary O’Dell of the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board. It was first published on the blog of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, “Now See Hear!” For the past year or so, we have been inviting readers of our “Now See Hear!” blog to help us identify some super-obscure photos from …
This is a guest post by Beverly Brannan, curator of photography; Adam Silvia, associate curator of photography; and Helena Zinkham, chief of the Prints and Photographs Division. It was first published on “Picture This,” the division’s blog. The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles has created a lively exhibition called “Not an Ostrich: And …
On Sunday night, July 16, 1895, Hattie Strage of Chicago was arrested and fined for disorderly conduct. Her offense? Bicycling over the city’s fashionable South Side boulevards “arrayed in a bloomer suit consisting of flesh-colored tights and a short jacket.” Women’s cycling attire was a subject of intense scrutiny at the dawn of the golden …
The following is a guest post by Catalina Gomez, a reference librarian in the Hispanic Division, and Adam Silvia, an assistant curator of photography in the Prints and Photographs Division. This past year, photography enthusiasts celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the birth of Leo Matiz (1917–98), one of the best photographers in Latin America in …
Marina Amaral was studying international relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, when she first tried her hand at digitally colorizing a historical photograph. She had no formal background in art or photography, but since childhood she had enjoyed working with Photoshop in her free time. One day, while not feeling terribly …