Top of page
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Perhaps it’s the impending arrival of April 1, but my first thought upon looking at this photo, placed on our “Caught Our Eyes” sharing wall by reference librarian Jon Eaker, was that it was an April Fool’s joke. As is sometimes the case with photos in our Harris & Ewing collection, where captions range from …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes, Visual literacy
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
The following is a guest post by Ryan Brubacher, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division Lewis Hine, at a certain point in his career, began to refer to himself as an “interpretive photographer” and not a social photographer as he’d been previously termed. While we might imagine him an investigative photo-journalist by today’s standards, his …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
If you are a regular reader of the Double Take series, you’ll know that I often come across photos that pique my curiosity while in the course of looking for something else. Today’s entry started much the same way. Within a search for images of Abraham Lincoln, I hit upon an unexpected photo. The caption …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
Usually when a photo warrants a double take it’s because of something visible in the photo. In this particular case, it was what was not yet visible that made me stop and think. While searching for a building on 15th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C., I came upon this photo, with the caption: Site of …
Posted in: Architecture, Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
I’m always on the lookout for cats in our collections. In March 1924, all of Washington, D.C. was on the lookout for one specific cat – Tige, one of the prized pets of President and Mrs. Coolidge! As promised in a recent Picture This post about dogs in our collections, I now bring you the …
Posted in: Photographs, Visual literacy
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
I ran across this photo several months ago while looking for something else, and immediately laughed and put it in my “don’t try this at home” file. But what I definitely recommend you do try at home, or anywhere else you have an opportunity, is to talk about pictures with others. It almost always adds …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Caught Our Eyes, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The following is a guest post by Jan Grenci, Reference Specialist for Posters, Prints and Photographs Division. This post is the latest entry in the occasional Double Take series, where we take a closer look at images. As a reference specialist, it should come as no surprise that I enjoy doing research. What may surprise …
Posted in: FSA/OWI, Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy
Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson
Many pictures come into Prints and Photographs Division collections with little or no identification on them. It’s not entirely surprising, since a portion of our collections were generated or collected by individuals who readily knew the who, what, where and when that depictions can evoke and didn’t feel compelled to write it down. But even …
Posted in: Photographs, Portraits, Researcher Stories, Visual literacy
Posted by: Kristi Finefield
The latest entry in the Double Take series owes its existence to serendipity. Accidental discovery is alive and well in our online collections, and it’s easy to find one thing when looking for another. While working on a reference question about a building on 9th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C. and browsing through older photos …
Posted in: Photographs, Series: Double Take, Visual literacy