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Posted by: Kristi Finefield
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 …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
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: Melissa Lindberg
This Autumn we offer a sequel to a post from this past Spring featuring pictures that cheer Prints & Photographs Division staff. This post’s contributors are all staff members in the Technical Services Section, who work hard to organize, describe, digitize and house for preservation the images in the collections, making it possible for you …
Posted in: Photographs, Posters, Prints
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
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 …
Posted in: Photographs, Posters, Prints
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
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 …
Posted in: Photographs, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
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, …
Posted in: Architecture, Drawings, News & Events, Photographs
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: Kristi Finefield
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 …
Posted in: Photographs
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