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Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
As summer gets into full swing, I’m recalling how much I enjoyed my public library’s summer reading club challenges when my children were younger (shout-out to all the public libraries that run summer reading clubs for children and adults!). One thing I loved about the challenge was the “randomizer” techniques library staff designed to inspire …
Posted in: Drawings, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
In the 1930s, agricultural practices that replaced native prairie grasses with cash crops such as wheat and corn, combined with overgrazing cattle by ranchers, turned out to have devastating consequences for farm families, centered initially in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. An extended multi-year drought prompted wind erosion that sent topsoil blowing black-dust clouds across the …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The following is a guest post by Arden Alexander, Cataloging Specialist in the Prints & Photographs Division. The U.S. Congress has always been a popular research topic for Prints and Photographs Division patrons. The recently processed Roll Call Collection offers a wealth of photographs that pick up where our other collections leave off, covering the …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
And I should not have to remind you that little time is given here to rest on a wayside bench, to stop and bend to the wildflowers, or to study a bird on a branch— –from “The Parade” by Billy Collins As June builds up to summer’s start, lengthening sunny days mixed with some warm rain bring wildflowers’ …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Photographers sometimes get into the most precarious positions to get that perfect shot. The humorous drawing (below left) was apparently part of the White House News Photographers Association banquet in 1923, perhaps poking fun at the contortions necessary to snap an elusive photo. (The unidentified photographer whose head has been pasted on was perhaps one …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Anything to Get the Shot
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
When I take a photo of a group of people, the challenges are familiar to most of us. Are the shorter people in the front so they can be seen? Is everyone’s face visible? Are they smiling? Is everyone looking at the camera? And inevitably, someone still has their eyes closed in the final product. …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Beverly Brannan, Curator of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division: The Library of Congress has employed a number of military veterans and provided soldiers to serve in wars over the years. One of these from the Civil War recently came to light when the Library acquired a daguerreotype of …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, who co-curated the exhibition with Sara Duke, Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Arts: When exhorted by Charles Dana Gibson to “draw ‘til it hurts!” hundreds of his fellow artists contributed over 1,400 designs, including some 700 posters, to promote the country’s …
Posted in: Cartoons, Drawings, News & Events, Photographs, Posters
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
After two years, the U.S. Capitol, or more specifically, its dome, is finally emerging from a scaffolding cocoon. The photo at right, taken in March 2016, captures the partially revealed dome of the Library of Congress’ neighbor across the street. The restoration work started in spring 2014 included new paint, and repairing and replacing damaged, …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs