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Category: Prints

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

Just About “Ready for Research” 

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 …

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

The Visual Wonders of Yellowstone National Park

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 …

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

Exploring Fan Art Past and Present

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Please join us on Thursday, June 2 for a fantastic presentation by Prints & Photographs Division archivist Maggie McCready exploring fan art. Wondering what fan art is? Maggie has you covered, with an overview of the form and its history. She will showcase historical examples of Pre-Raphaelite artists’ visual explorations of Shakespeare, as well as …

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

Focus on Eyeglasses

Posted by: Jan Grenci

My latest Flickr album focuses on depictions of eyeglasses in the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division. Many of the images in the group are photographs, but a number of posters and prints appear as well. I added two WPA (Work Projects Administration) posters to the mix. Take a look at some equally worthy …

Untitled photo, possibly related to: Washington, D.C. Jewal Mazique [i.e. Jewel], worker at the Library of Congress, getting a late snack. Photo by John Collier, Jr., 1942. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8d20264

Behind the Scenes: Reflecting on a Career While Continuing to Explore the Collections

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is an interview with Barbara Orbach Natanson, former Head of the Prints & Photographs Reading Room. Melissa: Can you tell us about your background, and what roles you played at the Library of Congress before you retired this past December? Barbara: I first came to the Library of Congress in 1980 to do …

Reading is for Everyone

Posted by: Jan Grenci

The collections of the Prints & Photographs Division include many images that depict the act of reading. When I recently prepared a Flickr album on the subject, I had a number of photographs, prints and posters to spare. Let me show you some of the posters that I didn’t use but are equally worthy of …

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

Celebrating the 110th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Gift and U.S.-Japan Friendship

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is a guest post by Mari Nakahara, Curator of Architecture, Design, and Engineering, and Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, Prints & Photographs Division. The year 2022 marks the 110th anniversary of the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to Washington, D.C. in 1912, an enduring symbol of the …

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

Reflections of Dorothea Lange

Posted by: Jan Grenci

Each month, I gather images from the holdings of the Prints & Photographs Division for a Flickr album. The albums have a theme, the most recent one being Women Photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI). It features the work of Esther Bubley, Marjory Collins, Dorothea Lange, And Marion Post Wolcott. As …

Parishoners [sic] of St. Thomas Church resting after spending many hours preparing food for a benefit picnic supper. Near Bardstown, Kentucky. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott, 1940. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a43010

A Different Wrinkle: Representation of Older Women in P&P Collections

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following is a guest post by Barbara Orbach Natanson, former Reference Section Head, Prints & Photographs Division. Being a woman of a certain age myself, I recently began to wonder how and where older women are depicted in Prints & Photographs Division collections. Naturally, even in embarking on such an exploration, one has to …