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Category: Architecture

Finding Pictures: Charles M. Goodman Collection

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Calling all mid-century fans! Join Reference Librarian, Gillian Mahoney, for a virtual presentation on January 21st to learn more about Charles M. Goodman, one of the D.C. area’s most influential mid-century architects. Best known for his designs for the Hollin Hills neighborhood in Fairfax County, Goodman frequently worked with local builders and developers to make modern houses available to the mass market. This blog post will share a few sample items from the collection in advance of the talk.

Two women display a three burner heating device. One holds a bottle of alcohol and the other a piece of toast.

The Latest and Most Scientific Cooking Utensils: Technology in the Kitchen

Posted by: Kate Phillips

Holiday cooking season is upon us. Today we’re looking at technologies intending to make our lives in the kitchen a bit easier. Drawing from advertisements, trademark registrations, photographs, and architectural drawings, this post highlights time, energy, and space-saving devices designed (in theory) to streamline our culinary experiences.

Close-up view of statue of golden flame, with New York City skyline in background.

Our Best Resource for Historic American Architecture, Engineering, and Landscapes

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. Do you need ideas for fixing up an old house? Close-up views of the Statue of Liberty? The dimensions of a Spanish mission? All that information and more is ready for you in the HABS/HAER/HALS Collection with 450,000 drawings, photographs, and …

Lights On!

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Last week, we celebrated the 17th birthday of The Commons on Flickr. The Commons started as a partnership between Flickr and the Library of Congress, and has grown to include tens of thousands of images from over 100 different institutions. In recent years, we have been selecting images from our collections to share in our …

President Jimmy Carter in Photos

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Former President Jimmy Carter passed away earlier this week at the age of 100. Today, I’ll highlight a few collections in the Prints & Photographs Division which include images related to the life of Carter, the longest-living President in American history. U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection: Carter’s active years fall squarely in …

Diving Deep with Early Photography in the Richard Morris Hunt Collection

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

The following is a guest post by Mari Nakahara, Curator of Architecture, Design & Engineering and Micah Messenheimer and Michelle Smiley, Curators of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division, drawn from a conversation with Professor David R. Hanlon. We appreciate his willingness to share his research findings and identify the photographers in the Hunt Collection to …

Watercolor and ink drawing shows large, white institutional building. People in early 18th-century clothing and two large trees are visible in the foreground.

The Gilded Life of Richard Morris Hunt: A New Book

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division, with excerpts from the Richard Morris Hunt Research Guide. How do you breathe life into a valuable but under-appreciated and complicated collection from the 1800s?  The Prints & Photographs Division was fortunate to earn the attention of Sam Watters—an exceptional historian of …