In my most recent Flickr album, Animals are Looking at You, twenty two animals are peering out at you from black-and-white photographs. The photos were initially selected by Office of War Information staff in 1945 for a display in the Photographic Section file room. The Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection (FSA/OWI) was transferred to the Library of Congress’ custody in 1944, but it wasn’t until 1946 that it made the physical move to the Library. In the interim, the collection was housed in the Auditor’s Building in Washington, D.C. During that time period, themed exhibits were displayed, including one that featured mostly farm animals making eye contact with the photographer.
The topic made me curious enough to look for other photos in our collections of animals looking into the camera. Let’s be honest, though, I mostly looked for cats! While I noticed many cats avoiding the camera, there were quite a few examples of felines staring down the camera lens. (I would say many aren’t too pleased about it, either!)




Cat with Candelabra, Normandy, France. Photo by Balthazar Korab, 1951. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.67874





Learn More:
- It’s no secret I like to write about cats in the Picture This blog. Revisit some previous feline-focused posts from both myself and other writers for the blog:
- Photographer Arnold Genthe often included his cat in portraits, often held by the well-known women he photographed. He had four successive cats named Buzzer – the last one named Buzzer IV. See more of his photos including a cat!
- See the latest Flickr album, Animals are Looking at You. Do you have a favorite? I quite like this curly-coated goat!
Comments (4)
Thank you for this great blog post. As a cat lover myself, I am wondering if the final photo doesn’t reveal more than the caption does. All of the tiny trophies on the table in front of the woman, who clearly loves her kitty, lead me to think that the cat is a winner! Not just in her eyes but in a competitive sense. if you are able to read the notes on the trophies you would know!
My favorite (FAVORITE) line from this post is “The photos were initially selected by Office of War Information staff in 1945 for a display in the Photographic Section file room.”
Going to war? The answer is cats. Thank you for this lovely post!
What great feline finds! It’s like they are peering out of the past (and not even necessarily demanding dinner!). And it’s wonderful, if not surprising, to be inspired by FSA/OWI photos and activities.
OMG 😱 I LOVE whole story 😻 I am a huge cat LOVER! I like them better than people @least kitties appreciate you! All my life I’ve had many furball kiddos and everyone of them were sent to me from GOD as they were all homeless and broken to only become my precious Angels w/whiskers! Thank you so much for putting this out here I noticed all the dates on the pics that they’ve always throughout history have been interesting and thought of enough to capture them in photographs! Please keep sharing these memories/images of these amazing creatures 💞 Thank you!