What's New in the Prints & Photographs Division

Lecture: "The Artist as Translator: Thomas Nast and French Art"

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at 12 noon
West Dining Room, James Madison Building, 6th floor
Co-sponsored by the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon and the Prints and Photographs Division

Swann Foundation grantee Marie-Stéphanie Delamaire will present an illustrated talk examining American cartoonist Thomas Nast’s appropriation of the visual language used in prints and photographs of grand manner and history paintings in his political cartoons of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.

Thomas Nast, artist. The Tammany Tiger Loose, published  in Harper’s Weekly, Nov. 11, 1871.

Daniel A. Jenks, artist, Mountain camp, Siera [sic] Nevada. Drawing, 1859.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.04820

"Journals of a Pioneer Argonaut, Daniel Jenks" (webcast)

Through unique drawings and other archival materials, Sara W. Duke, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, tells the story of Daniel Jenks, one of thousands of educated, literate, middle-class men who migrated west during the 1859 gold rush in Colorado. The Prints & Photographs Divison has twenty of Jenks's drawings. The Webcast and supplementary materials are presented as part of the Library of Congress "Journeys and Crossings" series.

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In Lincoln’s Hand: His Original Manuscripts With Commentary by Distinguished Americans

In addition to original essays about the most important Lincoln documents, this new publication, a companion volume to the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition, features many images relating to Lincoln's life and work.

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Commemorating Abraham Lincoln and International Women's Day

Staff and researchers selected photos to feature in two new Flickr sets: "Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)" and "Women Striving Forward, 1910s-1940s." The Lincoln set offers treasured portraits from the Library of Congress collections, as well as views from Lincoln’s funeral and portraits of his immediate family. The 23 photos in the "Women Striving Forward" set highlight the many arenas in which women have striven individually and collectively not only for their own betterment, but for better conditions and greater justice in the world at large.

View "Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)"
View "Women Striving Forward, 1910s-1940s"

Photochrom Travel Views of Scandinavia

Inviting viewers to take a century-old "grand tour," we recently added color photochrom prints to the sets of photos featured on the photo sharing site, Flickr. The first group of more than 160 photochroms shows scenes in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Flickr members have responded enthusiastically and informatively. We will gradually add images of more countries to Flickr from the total holdings of 6,500 photochrom prints of Europe and the Middle East that are currently available in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.

View Photochroms on Flickr
View Flickr Project page

Selected Images of Abraham Lincoln

In preparation for Abraham Lincoln bicentennial events, a wide variety of Lincoln-related images have recently been scanned.

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Toni Frissell, photographer, Ground crew sweats in a mission. Photograph, 1945 March.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.13271

Tuskegee Airmen Photographs

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Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

Curator of photography Carol Johnson selected images for a new reference aid in a slide show format. It lets you see how Lincoln looked over 20 years—from the earliest known photographic likeness in 1846, through the U.S. presidential campaign of 1860. Views from Lincoln’s funeral in 1865 and portraits of his immediate family are also included.

View the slide show

Researcher's Toolbox

A new reference aid lists resources that provide information and methods for exploring image history, processes, content, and meaning

View the reference aid

With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition

Includes many items from the Library's pictorial holdings.

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Thomas Nast, artist. Gentelmen's [i.e. Gentlemen's] parlor, reading and sitting room at Willard's Hotel, Washington, during the Inauguration week. Drawing, 1861 Feb. 28.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.19387

Spiderman Drawings

The Library acquired 24 pages of original 1962 drawings from “Amazing Fantasy #15,” which marked the first time the world’s most famous web-slinger, Spider-Man, would appear in print anywhere. The Spider-Man origin story in “Amazing Fantasy” was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; the pages are Ditko originals, complete with pencil erasures and white-out opaquing fluid.

View images and description | More information (via LC blog)

Ukiyo-e print by Toyohara Kunichika

This color woodblock print highlights an early use of photography in Japanese culture and represents two strengths of the Library’s visual collections—Ukiyo-e prints and carte de visite photographs.

Daguerreotype of Edwin McMasters Stanton and Son

The Library recently acquired a unique half-plate daguerreotype of American lawyer and politician Edwin Stanton formally posed with his son a few years before Stanton became U.S. Attorney General for President Buchanan (1860-61) and then Secretary of War for Presidents Lincoln and Johnson (1862-68). Purchase and gift from the James Madison Council and George S. Whiteley, IV.

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