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 …
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 …
In a recent search for a portrait of a different judge in the C. M. Bell Studio collection, reference librarian Jon Eaker came upon an image with the title “Gibbs, Judge M.W.” Struck by the man’s image, and wanting to learn more about him, Jon did some reading and learned that Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …