The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division.
The creative staff members in the Library of Congress Publishing Office produce fascinating new books each year by digging deeply into our remarkable collections, aided by Prints & Photographs Division staff. The recently issued volume, Presidential Campaign Posters from the Library of Congress, also offers a special new feature–100 full-page reproductions that can be removed easily from this large-format paperback and framed for display.
Finding enough dynamic pictures to represent both winning and losing candidates from 1828 to 2008 did pose some challenges. We had plenty of historical political advertisements to contribute but needed an infusion of new material to represent many of the 20th century elections. As a result, the Publishing Office tracked down more than forty striking examples of campaign artwork to strengthen our collections permanently. Thirty-four of the special tear-out pages show these recent acquisitions. Other new items appear with the engaging election commentary that enriches the back of each poster page.
Many thanks to the Publishing Office for a lively book that also expanded the Library’s poster collections significantly!
Learn More:
- See the newly acquired campaign pictures in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Please Note: The images will display only in thumbnail size due to copyright restrictions).
- View a slide show with sample poster images on the book’s web page.
- Watch a June 19, 2012 interview about the book with Publishing Office Director Ralph Eubanks and editors Aimee Hess and Tom Wiener.