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Category: Photographs

Two men stand on front steps of building.

Finding Pictures: Shawn Walker – Reflections

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Join Curator Adam Silvia and renowned photographer Shawn Walker for a Finding Pictures webinar where they will debut their documentary interview on Walker’s life in photography, featuring images from the Shawn Walker Photograph Collection held in the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. A founding member of the Kamoinge Workshop, a highly esteemed collective of Black photographers in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Walker reflects on his youth growing up in Harlem, his journey to becoming a photographer, his experiences photographing in Cuba and Guyana and his creativity as an artist. Silvia and Walker will take questions from attendees afterwards.

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 …

Colorful postcard shows Southern Pacific Railroad car carrying larger-than-life lemon with printed Chinese or Japanese characters translated as January 1, New Year.

Finding Pictures: Postcards – Wish You Were Here!

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Sample some images from the Library of Congress postcard collections in this post as we prepare to host a webinar on April 16 featuring a broad selection of postcards from the late 19th century forward. We hope this quick introduction will encourage you to watch the live event – or listen to the recording if you aren’t able to make it!

Color lithographic print shows chocolates artfully placed on top of silver stand, with box of chocolates to the left and a picture of a woman's profile on the front.

Ready for Research: Announcing New Collections and Additional Digital Images

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints & Photographs Division. Our talented teams in the Prints & Photographs Division (P&P) organized and described 250,000 pictures during the past year. The processing teams completed several new collections for you to enjoy from a distance or examine in person, and digitization staff added some …

Row of four telephone booths, each with a woman inside talking on the phone. A pinup-style photo is visible above each booth.

Making a Connection

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

For some of us, it’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t have portable communication devices that fit in our pockets — when a phone call required access to a wired line. I recently came across a photograph with a phone booth in it and I struggled to remember the last time I had …

View of kitchen/dining space showing table with dishes on it on left, oven on right and staircase in background.

Timeliness and Timelessness, or Spot the Wall Calendar

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is a guest post by Kate Phillips, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division.  As our name suggests, here in the Prints & Photographs (P&P) division, we collect both prints AND photographs. It’s always fun when items work across categories and photographs speak to print culture.   This month, as we’ve turned the page …

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 …

Black-and-white photo of car from 1910s driving on mountain dirt road with view of snow-capped mountain in the backgroudn.

Finding Pictures: Automobiles

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Let Prints & Photographs Division Reference Librarian Gillian Mahoney take you for a four-wheeled tour of car-related images from the collections this Wednesday, November 20 at 3:00pm EST. Explaining her interest in P&P’s extensive pictorial representation of cars, Gillian notes that, “images of cars in our catalog offer a fascinating glimpse into automotive and industrial …

Black-and-white photograph shows close-up view of black kitten with arched back.

Purr-fectly Charming Black Cats

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Whether you think black cats are spooky, good luck, or simply adorable companions, the many images featuring these striking felines in the collections are evidence that photographers and other artists have found them compelling since at least the 19th century. This photograph by Arthur Rothstein highlights the tonal contrast between the cat’s dark fur and …