Live at the Library: Women in Photography, Stories from the Not an Ostrich Exhibition

If you are in the D.C. area, please join us on Thursday, March 16, to celebrate Women’s History Month with Women in Photography, Stories from the Not an Ostrich Exhibition, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building. Photojournalist Sharon Farmer, the first woman and the first African American to be director of the White House Photography Office, and Anne Tucker, curator emerita at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, will share stories of women photographers and their own work with the Library’s exhibition. Register here to attend. The event is first come, first served, so grab your tickets quickly! In the meantime, enjoy a virtual tour through the online version of the exhibit: “Not…

You Say Potato…I Say Pototem!

While searching our collections for a photo, I came across the following image and my natural curiosity required me to zoom in and read the text: Poster distributed throughout Aroostook County, Maine by the potato growers association advertising the barrel rolling contest in Presque Isle. Photo by Jack Delano, 1940 Oct. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c03316 Because I didn’t grow up in a region known for potato farming, it was surprising to learn of potato barrel rolling as an event! I absolutely had to find out more. Farm Security Administration photographer Jack Delano spent some time in Presque Isle, Maine, in October 1940 and answered many of my questions about this event through the photos he took. Join me as I show you what…

Stories of People and Places for Black History Month

During the lifetime of the Picture This blog, we have published several dozen posts relating to some aspect of African American history. We have collected all of these posts under a single category for easy access here. In honor of Black History Month, we will highlight a few of those posts so you can revisit images connected to Black creators and historical figures as well as read the stories behind them. Celebrating Harriet Tubman and the Emily Howland Album Read the story of a previously unrecorded portrait of Harriet Tubman in Celebrating Harriet Tubman and the Emily Howland Album. “The portrait is in a photo album that belonged to Emily Howland, a lifelong advocate of freedmen’s schools and women’s rights. The…

Ready for Research: From Latin America and Baseball Cards to Moral Re-Armament and Historical Trademark Designs

The following is a guest post by Helena Zinkham, Chief, and Aliza Leventhal, Head, Technical Services, both of the Prints & Photographs Division. Every week our department organizes, houses, describes, and selectively digitizes a wide variety of pictures. Here are the highlights from the more than 125,000 items completed in the past six months. You can enjoy many of the images online, and can view and research many more by visiting the Prints & Photographs Reading Room. Tres Ríos Photographs of Latin America, 2000-2016. These 2,285 striking color photographs show the diverse cultural life and heritages in Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. Adalberto Ríos Szalay is a Mexican photographer, writer, and anthropologist who works as “Tres Ríos” with his…