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Category: Photographs

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

Pictures that Make Us Happy, Part 2

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

This Autumn we offer a sequel to a post from this past Spring featuring pictures that cheer Prints & Photographs Division staff. This post’s contributors are all staff members in the Technical Services Section, who work hard to organize, describe, digitize and house for preservation the images in the collections, making it possible for you …

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

Looking back at Letter Writing

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

A column in The Hartford Courant discussing the decline of letter writing in the U.S. blames “this age of quick communication and rapid transportation.” While this is by no means surprising, the date of the newspaper article might be: Oct. 2, 1938! Yes, even 80 years ago, the art of letter writing was seen to …

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

Coolidge’s Cat: Out of the Bag!

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

I’m always on the lookout for cats in our collections. In March 1924, all of Washington, D.C. was on the lookout for one specific cat – Tige, one of the prized pets of President and Mrs. Coolidge! As promised in a recent Picture This post about dogs in our collections, I now bring you the …

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

Celebrating the Centenary of American Architect Paul M. Rudolph

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

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, …

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

Caught Our Eyes: No Getting Past the Dog Days

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

No, this is not a post bemoaning the sultry heat of late summer (sometimes referred to, apparently for astronomical reasons, as the “dog days”). The Prints & Photographs Division’s dog days are prompted by the realization that various staff members highlighted portraits of dogs (some with accompanying humans) on the division’s “Caught Our Eyes” wall, …

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

Behind the Scenes: A Rotating Digital Perspective

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Below is an interview with Vanathy Senthilkumar, who served on the Library of Congress Digital Conversion Team. Vanathy recently accepted a new job as a Librarian at the Government Printing Office, where we wish her the best of luck. Melissa: Like other members of the Library’s Digital Conversion Team, you serve on rotating details in …

Visualizing Southern Architecture in Story Maps

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Visual materials, such as photos, not only depict a place, but can also provide a deeper understanding of that place. While a single photo offers a single moment in the timeline of a place’s history, a group of photos of a larger region can suggest a much broader story, influenced by the connections between places …