What's New in the Prints & Photographs Division

Double page spread from Flood! a novel in pictures. Drawing by Eric Drooker, between 1985 and 1992.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.31381

"Timely and Timeless: New Comic Art Acquisitions" Exhibition

Sept. 15, 2011-March 10, 2012
Ground Floor, Jefferson Building

Demonstrating the impressive growth of the comic art collections at the Library of Congress, this new display features political and social satire, comic-strip and comic-book drawings, New Yorker magazine illustrations and graphic narratives added to the Library of Congress collections during the past decade.

More information (press release)

"Last Full Measure" - Exhibition of Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Portraits

Nearly 400 ambrotype and tintype photographs showing both Union and Confederate soldiers, as well as their wives and children will be on display.

More information

Section of the "Last Full Measure" display

Columbia demands her children! Lithograph by Joseph E. Baker, 1864.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.15768

New Graphic Arts Galleries

Two new graphic arts galleries introduce visitors to Library of Congress pictorial collections. The Swann Gallery features caricatures, political cartoons, comics, animation art, graphic novels and illustrations. The Herblock Gallery celebrates the work of editorial cartoonist Herbert L. Block—better known as "Herblock"—with an ongoing display of 10 original drawings, to change every six months. A third gallery showcasing the graphic arts collections will open in September.

More information (press release) | Herblock Gallery

Civil War Faces

In the months since we shared the Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs in Flickr, thousands have viewed the ambrotypes and tintypes. Some have reflected on the faces and experiences of the men--many of them very young--and families caught up in the conflict. Conversations in Flickr have also resulted in further information about people in some of the photographs.

View Liljenquist Family Collection in Flickr

Civil War 3-D Viewing

The start of the American Civil War in 1861 coincided with a surge in stereo photography. Flickr members' responses confirm that even as 2-D images, these old stereos provide a wonderful doorway for walking into history. To convey the three dimensional effect, we included in the Flickr set some digital anaglyphs: two color-filtered images are overlaid to create the illusion of depth when viewed through glasses with complementary color lenses.

View the Civil War 3-D Viewing set in Flickr

Holiest reincarnate in Sikkim with teacher
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.30161

Sikkim Photos (Kandell Collection)

The Dr. Alice S. Kandell Collection of Sikkim Photographs portrays the people and places of a kingdom high in the Himalaya Mountains on the border between Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India. Dr. Kandell captured these vivid scenes during visits between 1965 and 1979 in order to document a vanishing culture. More than 300 color slides and black-and-white prints are available online; thousands of additional, undigitized images are available for viewing.

View the collection

Theodore Roosevelt - Stereographs

More than 500 stereographs showing various facets of the life and career of Theodore Roosevelt are now available online. The stereograph cards commemorate Roosevelt's contributions as a Rough Rider during the Spanish American War, document his many public speaking events, advertise his presidential campaign, show him at work and leisure, and include other members of the Roosevelt family.

View Theodore Roosevelt steregraphs in PPOC

Update: More Puck Illustrations Digitized!

Some 900 covers and centerfold cartoons from the humor magazine Puck spanning ca. 1890 to 1910 have been digitized and described. This growing body of images expands access to the cartoons, caricatures, and political satire offered in America's first successful humor magazine, while preserving the Library's fragile original copies.

View Puck images and descriptions

Top Tips for Successful Research in the Prints and Photographs Division

Reference staff put their heads together and came up with their top tips, including how to prepare for research in Prints and Photographs Division collections and what to bring with you to the reading room.

View the "Top Tips"

Researching Historic Washington, D.C., Buildings

The detective work involved in building research has some added twists when it comes to Washington, D.C., sites, because of the multiple jurisdictions (municipal, federal, regional) that come into play. This pathfinder offers tips for tracing the history of a building and summarizes useful sources in Prints and Photographs Division, other Library of Congress units, and area institutions.

View the reference aid

Civil War Slide Show

This new image sampler offers a glimpse of the wide variety of pictures relating to the Civil War in Prints and Photographs Division collections. From carte de visite photographs to eyewitness drawings, the pictures span all the years of the conflict.

View the slide show

Illustrated English Language Periodicals

Periodical illustration flourished from the mid-1800s onwards. This overview lists some of the most popular illustrated periodicals, offers information on how to find pictures in them, and provides a select bibliography about the development of illustrated periodicals.

View the reference aid

Women Photojournalists: Jessie Tarbox Beals

Recently added to the Women Photojournalists site is an overview of the life and work of Jessie Tarbox Beals. The Buffalo Inquirer and The Courier hired her as a staff photographer in 1902, causing her to became known as America's first female news photographer. Her tenacity and self-promotion in her later freelance work set her apart in a competitive field through the 1920s.

View the overview

George Stacy Stereoviews and Cartes de Viste

George Stacy operated a photography business in New York City during the 1860s.  Stacy is best known for his 1861 views of Union troops at Fortress Monroe (Virginia).  Although Virginia withdrew from the Union, Fortress Monroe remained in Union hands for the duration of the war. The acqusition includes more than 1,000 stereograph views and cartes de visite made between 1858 and 1870 and document scenes in New York City and parts of New York State, as well as the Civil War. More than fifty stereograph cards from the Civil War era have been digitized.