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Category: Flickr

1. Toni Frissell poses for a photographic portrait with ski poles in front of a snowy mountain.

Here Comes the Sun

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album – Toni Frissell – The Great Outdoors – showcases the photographer’s work in and with nature. Let’s focus on a few images that feature the sun or spotlight its effects. This photo from 1960 shows the sun rising over a mist-covered racetrack in Saratoga Springs, New York: The sunlight dapples the …

Of Postcards and Postage

Posted by: Jan Grenci

I love postcards. I send them, collect them, and even make them. In my latest Flickr album, You’ve Got Mail, I included a 1939 photo of what was described as the “largest postcard ever sent through the mail.” A regular postcard cost one cent to mail in that year. I spot an interesting error in …

Shave and a Haircut: The Blog

Posted by: Jan Grenci

The barber pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the barbering trade. In my latest Flickr album, Shave and a Haircut, you will see a small selection of images of barber poles from the Prints and Photographs Division. The collections hold many more photos than I could use in the album. This is the kind …

The Poodle is in the Details

Posted by: Jan Grenci

This is my favorite photo from the Flickr album Toni Frissell Dog Photography Part One: It’s not my favorite because of the red Ford Country Sedan station wagon. It’s not my favorite because of the Mainbocher coat worn by C.Z. Guest. It’s my favorite because of the doggy in the window if you will. The …

Winter Poster Masterpieces

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album is titled Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. Featured in it is a poster advertising the December 1895 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. Designed by Joseph J. Gould, it shows a holly-festooned woman carrying the latest issue of the magazine as the snow swirls around her: In the …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

From Apples to Autumn Leaves

Posted by: Jan Grenci

When searching in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC), one fascinating image can often lead to another. That is what happened when I was looking for apple images for the latest Flickr album How Do You Like These Apples? I included this Currier & Ives lithograph from the Popular Graphic Arts Collection in the …

Send In the (Baseball) Clowns

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album, focusing on images of brass instruments, includes a photograph of Nick Altrock and Al Schacht playing sousaphones: This photo and others in this blog post were taken when both men were a part of the Washington Senators organization. Both men had professional baseball careers, and were coaches when most of these …

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album features photographs of signs from across the United States taken by Carol M. Highsmith from the late 20th century to the present day. In this blog post I’d like to focus on some older photos of signs taken for the Farm Security Administration in the late 1930s and early 1940s by …

Smiling woman dressed in outdoor winter clothes holds a large, old-style camera

Toni Frissell Fashion Umbrellas

Posted by: Jan Grenci

A while back I assembled an album for Flickr of images of umbrellas. More recently, I selected color fashion photos taken by Toni Frissell for another album. While gathering the Frissell images, I noticed that umbrellas and parasols appeared with some regularity. In some shots umbrellas shield their holders from the rain while in others …