American poster artist Lester Beall was hired to design posters to garner support for the work of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in the 1930s. The REA was launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order in May 1935, and then supported by Congress’ passage of the Rural Electrification Act in May 1936. At the …
My latest Flickr album – A Few of My Favorite Things – will be my last. I’m retiring from the Library after 34 years. I’ve had the privilege of working with the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division and seeing a lot of great, memorable images. I’ve been able to share many of them …
Last week, we started a compare/contrast journey through Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia via photographs taken by Jack Delano in July of 1941 for the Farm Security Administration and by me in April of 2024. Our journey concludes this week with four more picture sets. First up is an exterior shot: Let’s return to …
In July of 1941, Jack Delano photographed Washington National Airport, in Arlington, Virginia, for the Farm Security Administration. The airport had opened a month earlier. Earlier this month, I went to the airport to try to replicate some of Mr. Delano’s photos. I concentrated on what in 1941 was known as the waiting room and …
The following is an interview with Avnee Sharma and Alicia Perkovich, who both served as Archives, History and Heritage Advanced interns in the Prints & Photographs Division last fall. Melissa: Can each of you tell us about your background and how you came to work at the Library of Congress as Archives, History and Heritage …
I love to keep an eye out for photos from the P&P collections that show posters being displayed. I then search the poster collection to see if we have a copy of the actual poster. Here are some of the better examples from the World War II era. A 1942 poster by Jean Carlu, produced …