Attention all who are curious about gadgets, inventions, science, technology, and a good old-fashioned mystery! This week will offer two opportunities to explore mysterious thingamabobs and whatchamacallits and perhaps give them their real names. Within the Harris & Ewing Photograph Collection, we have a number of uncaptioned photographs that feature “gadgets” of unknown purpose – […]
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 […]
We celebrate April 24 as the birthday of the Library of Congress. On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of “such books as may be necessary for the use of congress.” It would take a bit longer for the Library of Congress to have books, a home, […]
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 […]
In honor of Deaf History Month, we are offering a webinar showcasing photographs and prints of Deaf people, notable figures, education, careers, and activities found in the Prints and Photographs Division’s collections. The first half of the presentation will be in American Sign Language (ASL) with closed captioning and voice interpretation for non-signing viewers. The […]
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 […]
Water towers dot the landscape, almost always the tallest structure in the nearby area. When taking long road trips, they catch my eye, especially ones where the tower has been painted to reflect something about the region or when the tower itself is an unusual shape. For example, the tower at right, in Gaffney, South […]
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 […]
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 […]
The following is a guest post by Ryan Brubacher, Reference Librarian, Prints & Photographs Division. Preparation for an upcoming virtual orientation (details below) led me to explore the HABS/HAER/HALS (HHH) Collection with an eye towards finding women in the role of architect or designer. The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), […]