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Posted by: Melissa Lindberg
Join Curator of Photography Micah Messenheimer this Thursday, August 4, for a presentation on the landscape work of acclaimed 20th century photographer Laura Gilpin in the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division. The talk will highlight Gilpin’s craft, stylistic changes, and the range of sites, subjects, and people she photographed in the 1920s and …
Posted in: Photographs, Women's History
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Many entries in the Double Take series, where we look a little closer at images, come out of the steps I take to answer reference questions in my daily work. Recently, in response to a question seeking a photo of a particular building, I was browsing about 300 photographs of Dubuque, Iowa, from the Farm …
Posted in: FSA/OWI, Photographs, Series: Double Take
Posted by: Melissa Lindberg
Panoramic photographs from the Prints & Photographs Division collections can show us a lot about the interests and activities of Americans at the turn of the twentieth century and the decades that followed, while offering a more expansive view of a scene than a more standard size photograph could provide. Subjects of panoramic photographs in …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Revisiting Rights-Free
Posted by: Jan Grenci
One image from my latest Flickr album on fireworks really caught my eye. It is a 1929 postcard of the dedication of the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis, Minnesota: The three day dedication event in August and September of 1929 included fireworks. When I first saw this postcard, I knew nothing of the Foshay Tower. Now …
Posted in: Architecture, Flickr, FSA/OWI, Photographs, Prints
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, and Aliza Leventhal, Head, Technical Services, both of the Prints & Photographs Division. So many exciting collections are in the pipeline for routine access that it’s time for a look ahead. The Prints & Photographs Division works on about 20 “processing” projects at a time …
Posted in: Architecture, Drawings, Photographs, Posters, Prints, Ready for Research
Posted by: Jan Grenci
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day, to commemorate the 1777 adoption of the “Stars and Stripes” as the national flag of the United States. Flag Day had been celebrated unofficially prior to 1916, as you can see in the first photo below. I recently gathered images from the collections of …
Posted in: Photographs
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
While I am usually incapable of picking favorites, I must admit I do have a favorite national park – Yellowstone. I have visited more than twenty times and I never tire of the natural wonders contained in its over 2 million acres. It was the first national park established in the United States, on March …
Posted in: Photographs, Posters, Prints
Posted by: Melissa Lindberg
The following is a guest post by Antoinette O’Bryant, Senior Cataloging Specialist, Prints & Photographs Division. For as far back as I can remember I have stared at a portrait of a young sailor hanging on a wall at home. “Who’s that?” I asked. “That’s your Uncle Melvin. He was in the Merchant Marines,” was …
Posted in: African American History, Photographs
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
At the end of the month, we mark the centennial of the Lincoln Memorial. This monument to our 16th President was dedicated on Memorial Day (then Decoration Day) in 1922 and its one hundred year birthday falls on Memorial Day this year. The Lincoln Memorial is visited by millions every year in Washington, D.C., and …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs