Today we take to the air with photographer Carol M. Highsmith and journey up and down the Eastern seaboard. Over the last year, photos of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia have come to the Library of Congress to be added to the ever-growing Carol M. Highsmith Archive. Highsmith’s …
The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, Prints & Photographs Division. Among the Library’s treasures is a special collection of Italian chiaroscuro woodcuts made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by such master artists as Domenico Beccafumi, Ugo da Carpi, Bartolomeo Coriolano, and Niccolò Vicentino. Although the chiaroscuro technique …
If you are a regular reader of the Double Take series, you’ll know that I often come across photos that pique my curiosity while in the course of looking for something else. Today’s entry started much the same way. Within a search for images of Abraham Lincoln, I hit upon an unexpected photo. The caption …
Usually when a photo warrants a double take it’s because of something visible in the photo. In this particular case, it was what was not yet visible that made me stop and think. While searching for a building on 15th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C., I came upon this photo, with the caption: Site of …
A column in The Hartford Courant discussing the decline of letter writing in the U.S. blames “this age of quick communication and rapid transportation.” While this is by no means surprising, the date of the newspaper article might be: Oct. 2, 1938! Yes, even 80 years ago, the art of letter writing was seen to …
I’m always on the lookout for cats in our collections. In March 1924, all of Washington, D.C. was on the lookout for one specific cat – Tige, one of the prized pets of President and Mrs. Coolidge! As promised in a recent Picture This post about dogs in our collections, I now bring you the …
The Prints and Photographs Division, home to the archive of noted American architect and innovative modernist designer Paul M. Rudolph, is hosting a symposium and a display to celebrate the centennial of his birth. A day-long symposium on Rudolph’s life and work will be held at the Library of Congress on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, …
Attending county or state fairs in the summer is a tradition for many Americans. While I did not get a chance to go to county or state fairs as a kid, I’ve now been to county fairs on both sides of the country, and find them fascinating. I’ve seen pony rides, clogging demonstrations, chicken, duck …
The following is a guest post by Jan Grenci, Reference Specialist for Posters in the Prints and Photographs Division – as well as a long-suffering Pittsburgh Pirates fan. For almost as long as the game has been played, baseball imagery has been used to advertise a wide variety of products. These items from the Prints …