In my most recent selection of railroad-related images on Flickr, All Aboard!, the photo that received the most attention was this one of the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Railway. I’m imagining the seemingly backwards and tilted locomotive drew some curiousity. This is a cog railway, used to climb steep grades. The boiler in this steam …
The work of scanning, cataloging, and sharing our collection of images with the world is never ceasing in the Prints & Photographs Division. Digitization work brings to light both recently acquired and long-held items from the collections. I periodically browse our newly digitized images to see what is now available. I was particularly taken by …
One of the photos I chose for my recent Flickr album, All Over the Map, caught my attention not just for the image, but also the associated title. This 1930 news photo from the Harris & Ewing Collection says, as part of its original caption: “Quite a contrast between the modern map in the background …
In 1906, New York photographer A.B. Phelan created several photomontages of an oversized man looming over parts of New York City. He accomplished this feat by skillfully combining two photos into one wonderful ‘trick’ photo. Lucky for us, he submitted them for copyright registration and the montage photos made their way into the Library’s permanent …
From the most recent Library of Congress blog post for the Library intiative Of the People: Widening the Path, we learn about the work of visual artist Maya Freelon, and her visit to the Library of Congress to explore the collections for her current project, Whippersnappers: Recapturing, Reviewing, and Reimagining the Lives of Enslaved Children in …
During my search through our collections for interesting hats, bonnets, caps, and all manner of headgear for my most recent Flickr album, I found one hat that most certainly was never meant to sit on anyone’s head. When it opened in 1954 as the “Premium Tex” gas station, this red hat captured drivers’ imaginations on …
On the 4th of July in 1918, World War I still raged, and so the New York City parade marking America’s independence focused on the war effort. This particular parade entry caught my attention because of the oversized model ship, and more specifically, the pattern painted on that ship! The idea of dazzle camouflage was …
In my most recent Flickr album, Animals are Looking at You, twenty two animals are peering out at you from black-and-white photographs. The photos were initially selected by Office of War Information staff in 1945 for a display in the Photographic Section file room. The Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection (FSA/OWI) was transferred …
One of my favorite weekly activities is a trip to the local farmers market. The bounty of fruits and vegetables, as well as other products like meat, eggs, and baked goods, offers so much potential for cooking good meals and trying new flavors. Farmers have been bringing their goods to market for thousands of years. …