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Posted by: Lara Szypszak
I find one of the remarkable things about portraiture is the ability to observe individuals just like us in a time so different. A sparkle in the eyes or tilt of the head can feel so familiar. Whether it be the portrait of a family member or of someone with a common cultural heritage, the …
Posted in: African American History, News & Events, Photographs
Posted by: Julie Stoner
While browsing through the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, the perfect timing and composition of this shot caught my eye. Seeing the final moment before the plane completes its flip and collides with the deck, I want to reach out and stop the accident from happening. Luckily, the caption on the back of the photo assures …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Lara Szypszak
Sometimes I come across a photo in our collections that just tickles me pink, but also makes me want to learn more. One such photo of two dancing dames alongside a congressman led me to pictures of the Charleston dance craze taking the nation’s capitol by storm and sent me digging deeper in the hopes …
Posted in: News & Events, Photographs
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The latest entry in the Double Take series owes its existence to serendipity. Accidental discovery is alive and well in our online collections, and it’s easy to find one thing when looking for another. While working on a reference question about a building on 9th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C. and browsing through older photos …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Nine years ago this month, the Library of Congress, after much planning and discussion, loaded photos for the first time to Flickr and began an extended, gratifying exchange with picture lovers all over the world. That first upload put the Library’s pictures in front of a community whose members enjoy looking closely, appreciating fully, and …
Posted in: Flickr, Photographs
Posted by: Jeff Bridgers
People often come to Prints & Photographs Division collections seeking pictorial reference points for aspects of their family history. Until fairly recently, to the degree that I had considered my ancestry at all, I’d assumed the earliest Bridgers to settle in the New World had been “encouraged” to emigrate from the British Isles as an …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Julie Stoner
Cold weather and I do not get along; I infinitely prefer the warm sun with a refreshing breeze. With the holidays behind and the remainder of winter ahead, I decided to search the term “sunshine” in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog to give me hope of warmer weather to come. The photograph below of …
Posted in: Prints