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Archive: June 2013 (4 Posts)

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

Washington, D.C.: The Early Years

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Ask any American to identify the Washington Monument or the U.S. Capitol, and it is likely they could.  But would they recognize – or be surprised by – those structures as they looked in the first century of the nation’s capital? A newly expanded reference aid provides glimpses of the city as it evolved: Washington, …

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

Whistler’s Butterfly

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

Some people contend that great art is distinguished in the attention the artist paid to the most minute details.  Artist James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) may be a good case in point in that he even turned his creative energy to the way in which he signed his work. H. Barbara Weinberg of the Department of American …

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

Timberclads: A Civil War Alternative to Ironclads

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

The following is a guest post by Gay Colyer, Digital Library Specialist, Prints & Photographs Division. While reviewing Civil War photographs of the Union’s Mississippi River Fleet (LOT 4183), I came across a type of ship that I hadn’t seen before. I’ve long admired the efficient design of the single or double turreted ironclads. In …

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

Caught Our Eyes: Field Day

Posted by: Jeff Bridgers

My two kids participated in an annual end-of-the-school-year event earlier this week: Field Day. My memories of field days consist of contests such as the water balloon toss or varieties of races including the sack race or the three-legged race. In this Russell Lee photograph above, the young fellow, looking for all the world like …