Top of page

Category: Series: Caught Our Eyes

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

Caught Our Eyes: Santa Gets Credentials

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Who can appreciate clear skies more than Santa? This 1927 Harris & Ewing photograph documents Santa receiving rather than giving: he gets the “all clear” to navigate the skies on Christmas Eve, complete with a pilot’s license. While a pilot’s license may not be on everyone’s wish list, anyone who has worked with historical photographs …

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

Caught Our Eyes: Simple Gifts (that Keep on Giving)

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Reference staff member Elizabeth Terry Rose, exercising both her keen eye and her artistic sensibility, offered her reflections upon seeing this photo by Samuel Kravitt highlighting Shaker design. “Sewing table and chair caught my eye for its timeless tidiness, its dignified peace, its light.  It is a Kravitt. It is a Wyeth, a Vermeer.  An invitation.” …

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

Caught Our Eyes: A Fish Tale?

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Cataloger Greg Marcangelo turned up this image–a record catch from an August fishing expedition nearly 110 years ago. Greg notes, “As a Pisces, I’m always on the lookout for nice pictures of fish.  But this – is it even real??  A quick internet search confirms that Giant Sea Bass may reach these proportions!” Learn more: …

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

Caught Our Eyes: Swan Boats

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Photography curator Carol Johnson spotted this evocative photograph. Carol comments: “The Swan Boats have been a fixture in the Boston Public Gardens for more than 100 years. Harking back to simpler times, the boat rides offer a peaceful break from busy city life.” The photographs shows half of a stereograph card. If you were to …

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

Caught Our Eyes: A Giant Bat Roost?

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

This photo caught many eyes when we shared it in the Library of Congress Flickr account. What crossed my mind on first glimpsing the man standing under the “Municipal Bat Roost” sign was, “Is this some sort of faked (composite) photo? Could the structure possibly be that large?” Flickr members immediately started supplying some context …

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

Caught Our Eyes: An Engineering Marvel

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

This item from the Popular Graphic Arts collection recently caught the eye of Phil Michel,  Digital Conversion Coordinator in the Prints & Photographs Division. Phil commented, “Early engineering marvels often catch my eye. Some of the ships, buildings, bridges, tunnels, etc., that were built in the industrial age were just phenomenal in their scale. I …