Ballou HS Rocks the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
The Saturday Morning Post
We have something a little different for you in Photo of the Day today. A few readers pointed out to us yesterday that the Library of Congress now has their very own Flickr page, and they've been uploading all kinds of fantastic images from their archives as a way to share them easily with the public.
Above is a photo titled, Woman putting on her lipstick in a park with Union Station behind her, Washington, D.C., taken ca. 1943. Because many of these photos, such as this one, have very little identifying information -- who took the photo and when, sometimes even the location and the subject matter -- the Library is asking everyone to leave comments and tags on the images, to better catalog them (at least online) for reference. In fact many of the photographs, such as this one, have no known copyright restrictions, meaning these are indeed little gifts of history for the public to embrace. Take a stroll through history and check out their entire photostream; don't forget to make them a Contact so you know when new photos are added.
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Hubba, hubba! Oh you kid!
I've been browsing the LOC's American Memory collection for years. There are lots of great images of local interest on there.
This boy scout one has some Americana to it, http://flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179874526/
I love her outfit. This is very cool.
Wow, that is a great collection of photos.
In other news, 1940s women's fashion is tops.
Shorpy.com also has some great vintage photos of DC. There's the People's Drug at 7th and E when it had a lunch counter. And the original Waffle Shop before the grease took over. But I'm particularly fond of the Tidal Basin "beach" bikini inspector telling those skanks to lower their knickers.
How interesting--the photo is is quite similar to the one used on the cover of Howard Gillette's book "Between Justice and Beauty". With the obvious difference being the individual who is in the photograph.
http://www.amazon.com/Between-Justice-Beauty-Planning-Washington/dp/0812219589
the LOC on flickr is a brilliant idea- kudos to whomever thought of it.
I'm ridiculously excited.
14andYou, good catch! That photo is also in the LOC collection:
http://flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179129361/
I'm guessing it is from the same photographer from the same photo session.
Awesome picture!
The Cushman Collection is also a treasure trove of online historic images of the 1930s-1960s in color.
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/index.jsp
Bah! Howard Gillette! I had him at GW. Was very much not impressed with him. His book was ok. But overall, I was disappointed in his teaching style and lessons.
14thandYou- I think this is the same little girl:
http://flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179129197/
Crazy.
If you like old photos, http://www.shorpy.com/ is worth a look. There are a fair number of good DC pictures... Some are sizable enough to print/frame, though I am not sure about the copyrights and such.
RecSpecs: Good find, and interesting. Thanks.
OldPoster...: Just curious what about Mr. Gillette's style you did not like? I know nothing about him other than his book, which I am currently reading and enjoying.
The addition of the LOC to flickr is so cool. I've really enjoyed checking those photos out.
I found him to be very dry as a lecturer. And he used several guest lecturers that had some ethics issues (one was involved in rehabbing old DC houses, but was also involved in some shaddyness that was reported in the Post).
But he was also a dick in critiqueing (sp?) group projects the class did. My group's project was on proposing greater mass transportation to bring in workers (especially lower-income workers) from the suburbs and exurbs into DC. He was a total ass in poo-pooing the idea as impractical and not solving the problems of income inequality in DC itself.
And I remember him as being very, very defensive about Barry and his disastrous tenures as mayor - stuff about how it was all Congress' fault, how the white establishment media was over-focusing on crime and other issues, etc. Of course, this was around the same time (mid-90s) that DC got hit with a big blizzard, couldn't clear the snow, the Feds shut down for a few days, and then when the snow melted and the roads were a total disaster, people tossed in rocks, dirt, sand, and (if I recall correctly) a mattress to fill in crater-sized potholes.
supertoph
You win. That site is what I've been looking for. I love old photographs. Awesome.
AWESOME! I have a very similar picture of the late GrandmaRat taken in that same area during that same time period.
I actually just finished browsing all 3115 photos on there. Slow day at work and plenty of great pictures to be seen.
Anyway, most of the photos are either beyond copyright expiry (1910s collection) or taken for government purposes (Farm Security Administration as well as War Information for the 30s & 40s collection) and thus all rights would technically be held by the US Government. None of them are really of "unknown" status. I find it odd that they claim them to be of unknown status on the site. Perhaps there's no "not copyrighted" status, just "unknown"?
dcist - You'll be happy to know that I was turned on to that site by our friends at Chicagoist
Monkeyerotica suggested Shorpy.com about an hour before supertoph did...just to give credit where it's due.
Also, thanks so much for the heads up about the LOC on Flickr, very cool stuff. :)
Creepy. The woman in the photo is a ringer for Elizabeth Short aka "The Black Dahlia." Then again, pretty much all the women in the 1940s looked like that. Or were trying to.