The Great Hall in the Library of Congress Jefferson Building echoes with the hubbub of enthusiastic visitors absorbing the ornate details of its salute to knowledge and creativity. Much as I relish those sights and sounds, on a recent afternoon, I enjoyed dipping into a room just off the Great Hall to contemplate a small, …
The following is a guest post by Karen Chittenden and Woody Woodis, Cataloging Specialists in the Prints & Photographs Division: A curious form of engraved print appeared in London in the early 18th century on which multiple images appear to be randomly scattered across the surface of the paper as though they were being viewed upon …
Among the hardest questions we receive is “Where in the world are the architectural drawings for [fill in the site]?” or “Where are the drawings by architect [fill in the name]?” Although we can establish whether we hold the needed drawings in our collections, discerning the location of drawings not in our holdings has always …
“Look! Look!! Look!!! Tintypes. Cheap. Beautiful. Lasting.” The sign posted by the entrance to an elaborate temporary booth at a 1903 county fair sums up in a handful of words much of the appeal of the simple tintype portrait photograph. From the latter half of the 19th century until nearly the middle of the 20th, …