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Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a landmark Civil Rights demonstration held on August 28, 1963 in Washington, DC. We have photographs in many collections that document this famous event. But the U.S. News & World Report Collection …
Posted in: African American History, News & Events, Photographs, Visual literacy
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Reference staff member Elizabeth Terry Rose, exercising both her keen eye and her artistic sensibility, offered her reflections upon seeing this photo by Samuel Kravitt highlighting Shaker design. “Sewing table and chair caught my eye for its timeless tidiness, its dignified peace, its light. It is a Kravitt. It is a Wyeth, a Vermeer. An invitation.” …
Posted in: Prints, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The summer road trip is a rite of passage for many Americans. And the ultimate road trip is the coast-to-coast journey. Today’s driver has many tools to make the trip easier: GPS systems, road maps, and miles of interstate highway. Between 24 hour gas stations, fast food and cell phones, we are never far from …
Posted in: Cartoons, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Cataloger Greg Marcangelo turned up this image–a record catch from an August fishing expedition nearly 110 years ago. Greg notes, “As a Pisces, I’m always on the lookout for nice pictures of fish. But this – is it even real?? A quick internet search confirms that Giant Sea Bass may reach these proportions!” Learn more: …
Posted in: Photographs, Postcards, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
Where in the Prints & Photographs Reading Room can you find file cabinets full of photographs of everything from “Animals in Human Situations” to “Zoological Gardens,” from “Airplanes” to “Yachts and Yachting,” and from “Avalanches” to “Winter Scenes”? The Specific Subjects File (SSF). These 20,000 photographs of objects, events, activities, and structures, arranged by topical headings, now enjoy expanded …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
Every summer we can rent a cottage, in the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear –“When I’m Sixty-Four,” John Lennon & Paul McCartney Since we’re in the midst of Washington, D.C.’s first genuine heat wave this summer, my mind turns to imagining cooler climes. And, naturally, these daydreams often involve cooling waters. Real travel is not in …
Posted in: Prints
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Photography curator Carol Johnson spotted this evocative photograph. Carol comments: “The Swan Boats have been a fixture in the Boston Public Gardens for more than 100 years. Harking back to simpler times, the boat rides offer a peaceful break from busy city life.” The photographs shows half of a stereograph card. If you were to …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1-3, 1863, at a small town in Pennsylvania. The fierce fighting was a major turning point in the American Civil War, with an estimated 50,000 casualties—dead, wounded, and missing Union and Confederate soldiers. …
Posted in: Drawings, Flickr, Photographs, Prints
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, …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs, Prints