One hundred and thirty-five years ago today, a devastating flood swept through Johnstown, Pennsylvania and neighboring communities. On May 31, 1889, the South Fork Dam failed following torrential rain, releasing a massive volume of fast-moving water from Lake Conemaugh. The resulting flood led to the loss of more than 2,200 lives. Photographers and artists did …
American poster artist Lester Beall was hired to design posters to garner support for the work of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in the 1930s. The REA was launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order in May 1935, and then supported by Congress’ passage of the Rural Electrification Act in May 1936. At the …
My latest Flickr album – A Few of My Favorite Things – will be my last. I’m retiring from the Library after 34 years. I’ve had the privilege of working with the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division and seeing a lot of great, memorable images. I’ve been able to share many of them …
The Prints & Photographs Division’s collections include many images that feature the humble bicycle. This familiar, ingenious transportation technology appears in pictures in multiple formats, including photographs, prints, and drawings, produced across decades. This popular graphic art print showing the scene at the 1883 Bicycle Camp-Exhibition & Tournament in Springfield, Massachusetts gives a sense of …
A fun feature on the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog is a link that allows you to view a selection of newly digitized images from the collections. Scanning visual materials from our collections, whether recently acquired or long-held but not yet digitized, is an ongoing task. We strive to bring as much of our collection to …