The Wonders of the WPA Poster Collection

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The following is a guest post by Hanna Soltys, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) Poster Collection is one of the Library’s treasures. We’ve hosted many orientations in person and online about these posters, and this time we’re offering an introduction to the collection during the evening hours!

On Thursday, July 7, at 7:00pm EST, I will host a virtual webinar that discusses the collection history, topical themes represented in the posters, and how to download images. I will share some of my favorite poster designs, such as this reading-focused one by Arlington Gregg.

A book mark would be better! Poster by Arlington Gregg, between 1936 and 1940. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.31264

In addition, the presentation will discuss the different types of processes you can find among the more than 900 posters, including silkscreens, lithographs, and woodcuts, as seen in the example below, encouraging visits to the zoo.

Visit the zoo. Woodblock print, between 1936 and 1941. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ds.08248

To our knowledge, the Library holds the largest known collection of WPA Posters, and plenty more examples and designs will be shown during the webinar. Join us!

Learn more:

Just About “Ready for Research” 

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The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, and Aliza Leventhal, Head, Technical Services, both of the Prints & Photographs Division. So many exciting collections are in the pipeline for routine access that it’s time for a look ahead. The Prints & Photographs Division works on about 20 “processing” projects at a time […]

Celebrating the Red, White, and Blue

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In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day, to commemorate the 1777 adoption of the “Stars and Stripes” as the national flag of the United States. Flag Day had been celebrated unofficially prior to 1916, as you can see in the first photo below. I recently gathered images from the collections of […]

Exploring Fan Art Past and Present

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Please join us on Thursday, June 2 for a fantastic presentation by Prints & Photographs Division archivist Maggie McCready exploring fan art. Wondering what fan art is? Maggie has you covered, with an overview of the form and its history. She will showcase historical examples of Pre-Raphaelite artists’ visual explorations of Shakespeare, as well as […]

Focus on Eyeglasses

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My latest Flickr album focuses on depictions of eyeglasses in the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division. Many of the images in the group are photographs, but a number of posters and prints appear as well. I added two WPA (Work Projects Administration) posters to the mix. Take a look at some equally worthy […]

The Lincoln Memorial at 100

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At the end of the month, we mark the centennial of the Lincoln Memorial. This monument to our 16th President was dedicated on Memorial Day (then Decoration Day) in 1922 and its one hundred year birthday falls on Memorial Day this year. The Lincoln Memorial is visited by millions every year in Washington, D.C., and […]

Mystery Gadgets Galore!

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Attention all who are curious about gadgets, inventions, science, technology, and a good old-fashioned mystery! This week will offer two opportunities to explore mysterious thingamabobs and whatchamacallits and perhaps give them their real names. Within the Harris & Ewing Photograph Collection, we have a number of uncaptioned photographs that feature “gadgets” of unknown purpose – […]

Behind the Scenes: Reflecting on a Career While Continuing to Explore the Collections

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The following is an interview with Barbara Orbach Natanson, former Head of the Prints & Photographs Reading Room. Melissa: Can you tell us about your background, and what roles you played at the Library of Congress before you retired this past December? Barbara: I first came to the Library of Congress in 1980 to do […]