While recently viewing the Library of Congress exhibition, “Comic Art: 120 Years of Panels and Pages,” I was struck by the effective storytelling Frank King employed in a cartoon drawing for his Gasoline Alley comic strip. In the cartoon, the main character Walt Wallet is depicted as a father whose well-meaning plans to introduce his […]
Below is an interview with Aliza Leventhal, Assistant Section Head for Technical Services in the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress. Melissa: You have now been at the Library of Congress for about 6 months – a relatively short period of time but hopefully enough to reflect on your experiences so far! […]
In his November 1933 proposal to create the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in partnership with the Library of Congress and the American Institute of Architects, the National Park Service’s Charles E. Peterson sounded this call to action: “Our architectural heritage of buildings from the last four centuries diminishes daily at an alarming rate. The […]
Many of those around the world watching news coverage of the terrible fire at Notre-Dame in Paris likely either reflected on a visit to the cathedral in their lifetime or felt a pang of regret at having not made it there before the fire. I personally thought back on my trip to Notre Dame as […]
The following is a guest post by exhibition co-curators Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, and Martha H. Kennedy, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, Prints & Photographs Division. A new Library of Congress exhibition, “Art in Action: Herblock and Fellow Artists Respond to Their Times,” features selections from the Library’s signature collection of […]
The Prints and Photographs Division, home to the archive of noted American architect and innovative modernist designer Paul M. Rudolph, is hosting a symposium and a display to celebrate the centennial of his birth. A day-long symposium on Rudolph’s life and work will be held at the Library of Congress on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018, […]
Fancy, Romance, and Tragedy. They sound like the plot points for a romantic tearjerker, but they are in fact the titles of three drawings recently donated to the Prints and Photographs Division by the family of the artist, George Randolph Barse, Jr. Barse was one of nearly 40 artists and sculptors charged with decorating the […]
Did you hear? April 30 is International Jazz Day! So I thought I’d search the Prints and Photographs collections to get an idea of what we have to represent the celebrated music genre- that thing we call jazz! The cartoon drawing below epitomizes the exuberance and dynamic feeling of the music! There are many gems […]
Spring in Washington, D.C., is marked by changing weather, gardens coming back to life and of course, cherry blossoms. The famous cherry blossom trees surrounding the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial, a gift from Japan more than a century ago, are nearing peak bloom which also means peak volume of visitors to view them! To […]
The following is a guest post by Jan Grenci, Reference Specialist for Posters, Prints and Photographs Division. When you take a vacation, do you buy souvenirs to remember the sights you see? Over the past few months, several reference staff members and I worked on a project to improve the access and housing of the […]