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Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Taking a portrait alongside your favorite feline is no easy task. Cats are notoriously (but delightfully) finicky about following directions, so getting one to sit still for a portrait can be a tall order. Despite that, our collections contain many examples of people posing with their cats – or at least attempting to do so! …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Profiling Portraits
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The oftentimes heartbreaking photos taken by Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee from 1908 to 1924 demand we look more closely at the faces of young laborers and the conditions under which they worked, such as this young spinner in a Georgia cotton mill: The photos’ impact continues to this day, adding a …
Posted in: Photographs, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The World Series is in full swing (pun intended!) and this year, the Washington Nationals are battling it out in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1933. The nation’s capital is abuzz with excitement for the hometown team, much as D.C. baseball fans were in 1924, 1925 and 1933 – the only other …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
In this latest installment of Double Take, the series where we take a much closer look at images in our collections, we will talk about how to date a photograph. Do you have any older photographs, tucked away in boxes or albums? How many have a specific date noted on them? If your answer was …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
This photo provides an unfamiliar view of a very familiar structure: Yes, that is the unfinished stump of the Washington Monument, as it looked for about 25 years. In 1856, when funding shortages interrupted construction, the monument stood only 156 feet tall out of a projected 500 feet. During the U.S. Civil War, the site …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
In this latest entry in Double Take, the blog series where we take a closer look at images in our collections, we will talk about the photo below and how an assumption led to an interesting research journey. What do you see when you look at this photo? What building is behind this couple? Most …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The following is a guest post by Hanna Soltys, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division. Summer vacation is often associated with postcards as we share our journeys and memories with friends and family via snail mail. However, postcards get their moment in the sun all year long here in the Prints & Photographs Division. This …
Posted in: Photographs, Postcards, Prints, Research Guides
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
In this newest installment in the occasional series, Profiling Portraits, we take a look at the type of portraits taken when the subject wishes to avoid the camera! Few smiles appear, mostly scowls or attempts to hide. Just like in modern times, news photographers decades ago sought their subjects with dogged determination. The photos of …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Profiling Portraits
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
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 …
Posted in: Architecture, Drawings, Photographs