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Category: Prints

Posters Working Together

Posted by: Jan Grenci

I love to keep an eye out for photos from the P&P collections that show posters being displayed. I then search the poster collection to see if we have a copy of the actual poster. Here are some of the better examples from the World War II era. A 1942 poster by Jean Carlu, produced …

Here’s Looking at You, Mom

Posted by: Jan Grenci

The following is a guest post by Kate Fogle, Assistant Curator of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division. Mom. Simple to say, this monosyllabic version of ‘mother’ entered the American lexicon in the mid-1800s, and its ease of use has yet to waver, as moms throughout the U.S. can attest. It’s a palindrome that conveys comfort …

Shave and a Haircut: The Blog

Posted by: Jan Grenci

The barber pole is an internationally recognized symbol of the barbering trade. In my latest Flickr album, Shave and a Haircut, you will see a small selection of images of barber poles from the Prints and Photographs Division. The collections hold many more photos than I could use in the album. This is the kind …

When in Rome

Posted by: Jan Grenci

If you have read any of my earlier blogs, you know that I like to point out the connections between items from different collections housed in the Prints & Photographs Division. Keep reading to see what links a travel poster and a stereograph. This gorgeous travel poster of Rome by Roger Broders was published in …

Winter Poster Masterpieces

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album is titled Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. Featured in it is a poster advertising the December 1895 issue of Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. Designed by Joseph J. Gould, it shows a holly-festooned woman carrying the latest issue of the magazine as the snow swirls around her: In the …

Special Delivery: Railway Express Agency

Posted by: Jan Grenci

Take a look at this colorful poster, designed by Robert E. Lee, a California-born painter and commercial artist who lived in New York City, and published in 1929. The company advertised on this poster, the Railway Express Agency (REA), was an American package delivery service. Operating between 1918 and 1975, they used railroads as one …

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

From Apples to Autumn Leaves

Posted by: Jan Grenci

When searching in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC), one fascinating image can often lead to another. That is what happened when I was looking for apple images for the latest Flickr album How Do You Like These Apples? I included this Currier & Ives lithograph from the Popular Graphic Arts Collection in the …

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album features photographs of signs from across the United States taken by Carol M. Highsmith from the late 20th century to the present day. In this blog post I’d like to focus on some older photos of signs taken for the Farm Security Administration in the late 1930s and early 1940s by …

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

Toni Frissell Fashion Umbrellas

Posted by: Jan Grenci

A while back I assembled an album for Flickr of images of umbrellas. More recently, I selected color fashion photos taken by Toni Frissell for another album. While gathering the Frissell images, I noticed that umbrellas and parasols appeared with some regularity. In some shots umbrellas shield their holders from the rain while in others …