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Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
In the era before the development of social media, how did you get a big message across? Type it out on a giant typewriter! Reference Librarian Jon Eaker ran across this photo while browsing the Harris & Ewing negatives online. It came with very little information. As with many images that catch our eyes, however, …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The following is a guest post by Hanna Soltys, who arrived at the Library of Congress in June 2018 as a Librarian in Residence, making wonderful contributions and observations while working as a reference librarian in the Prints & Photographs Division. When getting acclimated to a new place, you’re encouraged to “get lost.” I pleasantly …
Posted in: Photographs, Women's History
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The following is a guest post by Ben Zuercher, Liljenquist Family Fellow through the Stanford in Government program, Prints & Photographs Division, Summer 2018. Ben helped to describe recently received items in the Liljenquist Family Collection. Working with the Liljenquist collection carries the constant feeling of wonder and intrigue, as every picture tells a story …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The Library’s vast, international poster collection is featured in the latest “Free to Use and Reuse” image set. You’ll find much to enjoy from the 1890s through the 1960s among the posters, which promote travel, commercial products, war propaganda, entertainment, and more. We selected these posters in a special collaboration with Poster House, a new …
Posted in: News & Events, Posters
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
I ran across this photo several months ago while looking for something else, and immediately laughed and put it in my “don’t try this at home” file. But what I definitely recommend you do try at home, or anywhere else you have an opportunity, is to talk about pictures with others. It almost always adds …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes, Visual literacy
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
No, this is not a post bemoaning the sultry heat of late summer (sometimes referred to, apparently for astronomical reasons, as the “dog days”). The Prints & Photographs Division’s dog days are prompted by the realization that various staff members highlighted portraits of dogs (some with accompanying humans) on the division’s “Caught Our Eyes” wall, …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Digital Library Specialist Pete Richey spotted this intriguing photograph from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection and added it to our “Caught Our Eyes” wall, where staff share pictorial “finds” from Prints & Photographs Division collections. “When I first saw this photograph it piqued my interest. At first glance this photograph could either …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The following is a guest post by Beverly Brannan, Curator of Photography, picking up on a thread from an earlier post about the “Not an Ostrich” exhibition in Los Angeles, California. The title of the exhibition prompts viewers to ask “What are we really looking at?” Beverly demonstrates how that question can trigger an exploration …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Many pictures come into Prints and Photographs Division collections with little or no identification on them. It’s not entirely surprising, since a portion of our collections were generated or collected by individuals who readily knew the who, what, where and when that depictions can evoke and didn’t feel compelled to write it down. But even …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits, Researcher Stories, Visual literacy