The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, Prints & Photographs Division. As the Library of Congress marks its 220th year of serving the nation, the publication of a new guide tells two stories: how staff have for decades worked with art professionals to build the collections and how by …
Visitors to the 1900 Paris Exposition would have had the opportunity to view an extraordinary display of photographs, charts, publications and other items meant to demonstrate the progress and resilience of African Americans in the United States, only a few decades after the abolition of slavery. The materials were assembled by African American intellectuals Thomas J. …
The following is a post by Kristi Finefield, Reference Specialist in the Prints & Photographs Division, and member of the Picture This blog team. Images have a way of opening our eyes to new aspects of a well-known story. When I think of singer Marian Anderson, an image of her performing at the Lincoln Memorial …
Spring has arrived. While some of us may have an opportunity to carefully step outside and view blossoms in our own neighborhood, others may not. Wherever you are, you can take a virtual stroll among the shoots and blossoms planted among the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division. Many images of gardens can be …
The following is a guest post by Hanna Soltys, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division. The post was written with the help of Sara W. Duke, Curator of Popular and Applied Graphic Art. While professional baseball’s Opening Day will take place at a later date, the spirit and excitement of the day still live …
Just across town from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., stands Gallaudet University, an institute for higher learning for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the law that allowed the school to begin issuing college degrees, a milestone for deaf people seeking higher education. Edward M. Gallaudet (right) was the …
Every year Washingtonians are treated to a feast for the eyes as ornamental cherry trees bloom across the city, most prominently by the Tidal Basin. As cherry blossom season approaches, we would like to share information about two related resources that we hope will offer some inspiration for those near and far: a selected set …
The following is a guest post by Martha H. Kennedy, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, Prints & Photographs Division. During Will Eisner Week, March 1-7, 2020, the Library of Congress joins art schools, libraries, universities, and museums in a global celebration of this legendary creator’s contributions to the world of comic art and …
Frederick Douglass was a firm believer in the power of pictures. In an 1861 lecture called “Pictures and Progress” by the press, Douglass wondered why photography pioneer Louis Daguerre was not more frequently compared with inventors of such vaunted technologies as the telegraph or the steamboat: “the great father of our modern pictures is seldom …
![Washington's prominent figures listen to Marian Anderson's singing. Washington, D.C., April 9. Behind Marian Anderson, the heroic statue of Lincoln; beside her, Cabinet members and Senators; before her a crowd of 75,000 black and white listeners. Left to right - Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morganthau, Mrs. Morganthau, Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, [...] at the piano, Marian Anderson. 4-9-39. Photo by Harris & Ewing, 1939 April 9. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.26452](https://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/files/2020/04/Anderson_Lincoln.jpg)