But I am glad for the luck of light. Surely it is godly, that it makes all things begin, and appear, and become actual to each other. — from “October” by May Swenson There is a distinct quality to October sunlight. A softer radiance than the harshness in summertime, scenes glow with an amber or …
In this final installment in the “Signs of Their Times” series drawing from the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) Photograph Collection, I offer a few of my miscellaneous favorites. To begin, I can’t imagine any librarian, or book-lover for that matter, could resist this 1940 appeal from the “The Mogollon School …
The mid-season All-Star Game break provides baseball fans an opportunity to assess their team’s progress thus far, taking stock of strengths and areas for improvement, successes and failings. But, I’m going to take a much further distant historical look at baseball spectators and fans enjoying the game. Going back some 150 years to October 1865, the engraved …
When Barbara Natanson, fellow blogger and head of the reference section here in Prints & Photographs, shared with me the 1910 Lewis Hine photograph [below, left] of the boy assisting with deliveries in St. Louis, it brought home once again how enormously the world has changed in just over a century. In a similar fashion, …
This neon caballero astride his rearing horse proved an instant favorite when featured recently on the Library’s Flickr photostream. In this season of special holiday lighting, year-round bright lights come to mind — the neon signs featured in these photographs by Carol M. Highsmith. As you’ll see below in the Learn More list, there are …
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. The Battle of Gettysburg was fought on July 1-3, 1863, at a small town in Pennsylvania. The fierce fighting was a major turning point in the American Civil War, with an estimated 50,000 casualties—dead, wounded, and missing Union and Confederate soldiers. …
The following is a guest post by Bronwen Colquhoun, Kluge Fellow. I’ve been invited to blog about an exciting event that we are organizing here at the Library on Saturday July 28, 2012. You are invited to a Photography Meetup in the Thomas Jefferson Building to capture some of the elaborate architecture and artwork rooted …