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Search results for: civil war

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

A Peek into the Past Lives of our Photo Collections

Posted by: Kristi Finefield

Many a research journey starts with a single photograph and my curiosity. Some voyages lead to an entry here in the Picture This blog, and today’s post is no different. I came across this image in the online catalog and several things grabbed my attention right off the bat: First, what a mess! The librarian …

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

Landscape Photographs: Shaping Our Impressions of the Earth

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Micah Messenheimer, Curator of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division (and a photographer himself). In honor of Earth Day, we wanted to take a deeper look at some of the Library’s historic collections of landscape photographs. When many people think of landscape photographs they think of wide-open spaces, empty …

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

Great Photographs: New Issue of LCM

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, Prints and Photographs Division. I could look at photographs all day long. Contemporary or historical, black-and-white or color, provocative or soothing, portrait or landscape. All kinds of images can draw my interest, and some photos have the power to stop me in my tracks. These …

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

Born in Slavery: Portraits and Narratives of Formerly Enslaved People

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. One way to commemorate this anniversary might be to explore the online collection Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1938. More than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of formerly enslaved people are available online. These narratives were collected in …

Susie King Taylor, known as the first African American Army nurse. Photo, published 1902. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.57593

Susie King Taylor: The Courage of an African American Nurse and Teacher

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

Below is an interview with Elizabeth Lindqwister, the summer 2019 Liljenquist Family Fellow, and Prints & Photographs Division staff members, Karen Chittenden and Micah Messenheimer, about creating a Story Map focusing on the Civil War experience of Susie King Taylor. Many courageous people are pulling double and triple duty in this time of quarantine for …

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 …

Septima Clark and Rosa Parks at Highlander. Photo by Ida Berman, 1955. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.47364

Behind the Scenes: Inspired by Rosa Parks

Posted by: Melissa Lindberg

The following interview with Luis Clavell, Program Specialist at the Library of Congress, marks the anniversary of December 1st, 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested for keeping her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Luis is instrumental in bringing the Rosa Parks collection to the public and serves on a team that manages …

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

Honoring Veterans, Telling Stories of Service Through Handmade Paper Art

Posted by: Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Katherine Blood, Curator of Fine Prints, Prints & Photographs Division. As moderator for the Veterans Art Showcase’s Combat Paper panel, she would like to thank the participating panelists and artists for sharing their knowledge, art, and stories. The extensive Library of Congress collections of art and documentation related …