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Category: Women’s History

woman with children clinging to her holding blow torch while talking with another woman

Women at Work: Glimpses through Time

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Recently, while preparing to present a virtual orientation offering a sampling of Prints & Photographs Division collections for representations of work, workers and labor themes, I found myself selecting image after image that showed women working in a variety of industrial and office settings (at the same time recognizing that for centuries women have also …

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

Ready for Research: Anne Mergen’s Editorial Cartoons

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Martha H. Kennedy, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, Prints & Photographs Division. It’s another in our blog series “Ready for Research,” which highlights collections moving out of the backlog. We’re celebrating the recent cataloging of more than 600 editorial cartoon drawings by Anne Briardy Mergen (1906-1994). …

Frances Benjamin Johnston, full-length self-portrait dressed as a man. Photo (albumen silver print) by Frances Benjamin Johnston, between 1890 and 1900. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.04884

Frances Benjamin Johnston’s Hampton Album: A Researcher’s Exploration

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Micah Messenheimer, Curator of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division. Conversations with visiting researchers that lead to new appreciation for the many interconnections among Library of Congress collections are one of the pleasures of my job as a photography curator. The following interview was done with Jane Pierce, Carl …

Helen L. Gilson, Civil War nurse and head of the Colored Hospital Service. Photo by J.C. Moulton, between 1861 and 1865.

A Visual Salute to Nurses

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Karen Chittenden, Cataloging Specialist in the Prints & Photographs Division. National Nurses Week recognizes the contributions of professional nurses, and this year we’d like to do the same by highlighting recently acquired photographs of wartime nurses who marshaled resources, medical skill, and courage to offer help in dire …

Blanche Scott. Photo by Bain News Service, between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.12209

Looking Beyond the Photo Finish: Women Racers

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Hanna Soltys, who arrived at the Library of Congress in June 2018 as a Librarian in Residence, making wonderful contributions and observations while working as a reference librarian in the Prints & Photographs Division. When getting acclimated to a new place, you’re encouraged to “get lost.” I pleasantly …

Portrait of Harriet Tubman. Photo by Benjamin F. Powelson, 1868 or 1869. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.54230

Celebrating Harriet Tubman and the Emily Howland Album

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Last week, Prints and Photographs Division staff had an opportunity to participate in Washington, D.C.’s first annual celebration of Harriet Tubman Day, which represented several very satisfying convergences. The official Harriet Tubman Day is March 10th, the date of Tubman’s death (the date of her birth is not known). The celebration was held March 8th  …

Hallie Quinn Brown. Photo by F. S. Biddle, between 1875 and ca. 1888. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.50302

Portraits of Nineteenth Century African American Women Activists Newly Available Online

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Beverly Brannan, Curator of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division. African American women as well as men assumed civic responsibilities in the decades after the Civil War. William Henry Richards (1856-1941) was active in several organizations that promoted civil rights and civil liberties for African Americans at the end …