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Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
But I am glad for the luck of light. Surely it is godly, that it makes all things begin, and appear, and become actual to each other. — from “October” by May Swenson There is a distinct quality to October sunlight. A softer radiance than the harshness in summertime, scenes glow with an amber or …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Along with my picture-loving colleagues, I’d like to nominate one of our favorite depictions of Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom, as an appropriate symbol with which to mark the arrival of the new Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden. This mosaic of a studious Minerva greets visitors, researchers and staff in an area overlooking the …
Posted in: Architecture, Drawings, Photographs
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The following is a guest post by photographer Camilo José Vergara and Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. Skyscrapers at the World Trade Center site have dominated the New York City skyline since the 1970s. Except for the gaping hole left by the September 11th terrorist attack in 2001, which destroyed the twin towers, …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
In this final installment in the “Signs of Their Times” series drawing from the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) Photograph Collection, I offer a few of my miscellaneous favorites. To begin, I can’t imagine any librarian, or book-lover for that matter, could resist this 1940 appeal from the “The Mogollon School …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
I can’t resist poring over pictures of public markets. The hubbub, the variety of objects that demand a closer look, and the regular presence of stacks of food (albeit not always mouth-watering to contemplate) draw me in. So when I recently set off on one of my favorite kinds of tours through the Prints & …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The mid-season All-Star Game break provides baseball fans an opportunity to assess their team’s progress thus far, taking stock of strengths and areas for improvement, successes and failings. But, I’m going to take a much further distant historical look at baseball spectators and fans enjoying the game. Going back some 150 years to October 1865, the engraved …
Posted in: Photographs, Posters, Prints
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The two people in the photo at right seem stopped in their tracks, much like I was when I saw this image for the first time. As I took in the details, I realized the towering metal behemoth was a Ferris wheel. It would take a bit more research to discover that this is actually …
Posted in: Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The Great Hall in the Library of Congress Jefferson Building echoes with the hubbub of enthusiastic visitors absorbing the ornate details of its salute to knowledge and creativity. Much as I relish those sights and sounds, on a recent afternoon, I enjoyed dipping into a room just off the Great Hall to contemplate a small, …
Posted in: Architecture, News & Events, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
More than 1,000 color photographs of wild, wonderful West Virginia recently joined the ever-growing Carol M. Highsmith Archive in the Prints and Photographs Division. Taken in 2015, these photos are part of Highsmith’s multi-year plan to photograph every state in the U.S., with the Library of Congress as the home for this modern survey of …
Posted in: Photographs