The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints. American author Dan Brown has famously described the Library of Congress Main Reading Room as the most beautiful room in Washington, D.C. (The Lost Symbol). While it is routinely open to researchers, drop-in visitors had the rare treat of photographing this inspiring …
The following is a guest post by Martha H. Kennedy, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art. The renowned illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944) is best known for creating the Gibson Girl, that dazzling paragon of feminine beauty—with a flawless face, steadfast gaze, small-waisted yet voluptuous form, that tall beguiling being who radiated grace no …
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. How do the delicate blossoms of a cherry tree represent the strength found in friendship? A new video from the Library of Congress suggests many answers in an engaging gallery tour of the exhibition Sakura: Cherry Blossoms as Living Symbols of …
This photo caught many eyes when we shared it in the Library of Congress Flickr account. What crossed my mind on first glimpsing the man standing under the “Municipal Bat Roost” sign was, “Is this some sort of faked (composite) photo? Could the structure possibly be that large?” Flickr members immediately started supplying some context …
A new biographical essay about photographer Ann Rosener (1914-2012) sheds light on her wartime work as she focused on the contributions of women workers and other aspects of the World War II home front. In the early 1940s Rosener documented preparations for war and home front activities for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) by contributing …
Prints and Photographs Division cataloging specialist Arden Alexander spotted this 1917 photograph, which is rich in detail and perspective. Arden comments: The photographer leaned out a window over Fifth Avenue to capture this aerial view of a military parade in New York City during World War I. This image caught my eye because of its …
Everyone who knows me knows I love snow. If there is even the slightest chance for a snowfall here in the D.C. area, I am always glued to the weather forecast. I study the Doppler radar, scrutinize the predictions, and listen with bated breath to every watch, warning and advisory. It looks like my ever-dwindling …
Strange as it may appear, whatever may be a colored man’s natural capacity and literary attainments, I believe that, as soon as he leaves the academic halls to mingle in the only society he can find in the United States, unless he be a minister or lecturer, he must and will retrograde. –Augustus Washington, letter …
As a sixth grader, I didn’t give much thought to the man whose portrait hung in the front hall of my school. In my memory, he’s holding peanuts in his hand, looking calm as I scurried by on my way to class. Of course, I knew he was George Washington Carver. The brass plaque on …
