When searching for that perfect gift, many of us now turn to the computer and the convenience of online shopping. However, I can’t help but be nostalgic for a time when shopping often meant looking at elaborate window displays of the newest toys or gadgets instead of tapping on a keyboard. I can almost hear …
When I first saw this photo of a ship sporting a boldly patterned look, I definitely did a double take. This British ship is the Mauretania, a Cunard Line superliner pressed into service during World War I as both a troop transport ship and a hospital ship, then returned to civilian life in the post-war …
When I refile pictures that researchers have recently been consulting, I’m almost guaranteed to run across at least one that demands a second look. My first thought upon seeing this picture, which was copyrighted in 1920, was: How frightening would it have been to be on the streets of Portland, Oregon, when these airplanes swooped …
When I ran across this image recently, it struck me just how much parades and flags go together and, furthermore, how much people have experimented with displaying enormous flags. In this case, the flag was probably better seen from the photographer’s vantage point than by spectators on the ground. As is so often the case, …
Clearly the ladies below are determined to get in their game of Mah-Jongg! A photographer for the National Photo Company snapped a photo of this inventive method of taking a game on the go while still enjoying a cooling dip in the water: A recent blog post about board games focused on the games themselves, …
This curious picture of a woman mountaineer recently caught my eye as I happened upon it in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. My first thought was: “What is the Wicked Witch of the West doing traversing a high mountain pass in the Yukon Territory?” But, this playful impression was soon supplanted by two more germane …
Reference specialist Marilyn Ibach caught sight of this photo in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documentation for the Cape Saint George Lighthouse, Cape St. George, Apalachicola, Franklin County, Florida. Marilyn remarked: This 1852 lighthouse caught my eye because it’s at such an angle! (275 degrees off north). This November 1998 photo shows the lighthouse …
Reference specialist Jan Grenci pointed out this photo, which Farm Security Administration photographer Carl Mydans took in February 1936. Although February is not a month when people in the mid-Atlantic region generally get to enjoy their porches (as we can testify), Jan noted Carl Mydans’ keen eye for a photographic opportunity: I like the way …
Reference staff member Jon Eaker spotted this photograph several months ago in the Bain News Service photographs. Jon, who has looked at many a World War I photograph in our holdings, remarked: It may be my favorite of our WWI pictures. This beast symbolizes how the introduction of widespread mechanization changed warfare. It looks like …