A native Hawaiian, Duke Kahanamoku grew up with a love of water sports. "The Duke" became an overnight worldwide sensation when he broke the Olympic record for the 100-meter swim dash at the 1912 Stockholm games. Kahanamoku’s place in the international spotlight is evidenced by the two photographs featured today: one by world-traveler Frank G. …
Photographing the Golden Gate Bridge is a challenge on many levels – quite literally! Nearly 9,000 feet in length, and rising almost 800 feet into the air, it doesn’t pose easily for the camera. I can only assume from looking at the images of the Golden Gate Bridge in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, …
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” This decision was pivotal to the struggle for racial desegregation in the United States. A year later, in May 1955, Thomas O’Halloran, on assignment for U.S. News & …
This image, found while browsing for bridges in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, lured a colleague in for a closer look. I was glancing over her shoulder, and the photograph drew me in and stirred my curiosity, too. We were struck by the clarity and beautiful geometry of the image, one of the recently …
In May 1941, Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographer Jack Delano captured the May Day Pageant in Siloam, a small town in Greene County, Georgia. Today, I feature two photographs of the day’s events. First, above, is a procession of girls dancing in fancy costumes, looking like a group of flitting butterflies. The second image, below, …