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Cover and first page
of the publication, Pictorial
Americana (1955) |
This illustrated list of images from
the Library of Congress collections
revives selections made for a 1955
publication, Pictorial Americana:
A Select List of Photographic Negatives
in the Prints and Photographs Division
of the Library of Congress (second
edition), compiled by Milton Kaplan;
edited by Charles C. LaHood, Jr. (Washington:
Library of Congress, 1955). The list
continues to serve the same function
that it did more than fifty years
ago, offering pictorial material on
various phases
of American life and history.
The list includes only the
images selected in 1955. Many
additional images on the themes
included
in this list are available in the
Prints and Photographs Division
collections. Some can be viewed
by searching
by subject or name in the Prints
& Photographs Online Catalog and
by viewing other image lists available
from the Prints and Photographs
Division's Lists
of Images on Popular Topics web
page and collection descriptions
accessed through
the Collection
Guides &
Finding Aids page.
Pictorial Americana not only represents a mid-1950's selection of significant historical themes and the images that should represent them, but
in many ways, it offers
a nineteenth century perspective
on earlier
eras in American history and topics
of
the
day.
Milton Kaplan selected many images
from the Prints and Photographs
Division's historical print collections
(also known as the Popular Graphic
Arts collection) to illustrate particular
historical events, such
as the American
Revolution. The
prints, which include lithographs, engravings, and etchings
made for popular consumption by
publishers such as Currier & Ives
and L. Prang & Co., often offer
colorful and dramatic, if not strictly
historically accurate, depictions.
(See Historical
Prints: Evaluation, Authenticity,
Copyright,
Dealers, and Bibliography for
information resources relating to
historical
prints.) Other collections that
Kaplan drew on include:
The Prints and Photographs
Division is readying
the Web version
of Pictorial
Americana in stages. We
will be adding links to the sections
listed in the full Table
of Contents as
the online material becomes available.
We have made very few changes to
the entries, other than to:
- correct
altered
reproduction
numbers
- substitute, whenever they are
available, digital images and
reproduction
numbers for color transparencies
or digital copies from
the original item instead of the
images
from black-and-white negatives
that the 1955 publication originally
supplied
- spell out abbreviations used
in the original publication
- amplify titles when the text
on the item appears, from the
catalog record, to differ markedly
from that given in the publication
- eliminate duplicate entries.
In a couple of cases where Pictorial
Americana "chapters"
consisted of only a few images, the
chapter
was combined with another on a closely
related topic.
The images are presented for educational
and research purposes. The Library
of Congress is unaware of any copyright
or donor restrictions on the use of
the images. However, patrons who plan
to publish or otherwise distribute
any of the images should be aware
that determination regarding the appropriate
use of an image ultimately rests with
the patron. The Library generally
does not own rights to material in
its collections. Therefore, it does
not charge permission fees for use
of such material and cannot give or
deny permission for use of the images.
For further information, see "Copyright
and Other Restrictions ... Sources
for Information."
The small ("thumbnail") images
in the list link to displays in
the
Prints & Photographs Online Catalog that
offer
- a larger jpeg image
- a link to a tiff image (usually,
the highest resolution image
available)
- sometimes, alternate
versions
of the image
- a link to bibliographic
information that often describes
the image more fully (catalog
records
for these early materials
have not been completely converted,
so some "bibliographic information" links
lead only to a "Digital display
record" used
to make the digital image
available).
Users may download the images.
Since the images have been digitized
at different times and from
different media, image resolution
(e.g., dots per inch) varies.
Users will need to experiment
with the downloaded images to determine
whether the images are of appropriate
quality for a given application.
If the digital versions
of the image are not of high enough
quality
for
the application in question,
photographic copies may be purchased
through
the Library
of Congress Photoduplication
Service.
In requesting copies,
the reproduction number
should
be cited, as well
as
a caption. You can find
the reproduction number
in the Pictorial
Americana entry
(the reproduction number
is for a black-and-white
copy negative, unless otherwise
specified). The reproduction number also appears in the
linked record in the
Prints & Photographs
Online Catalog, where alternate
versions may also be available.
Some
commercial vendors have
begun to offer
selected reproductions
of Library of Congress images.
For more information,
see the Reproductions
of Prints & Photographs
Division Images page.
Go to: Pictorial Americana Table
of Contents
Prepared by: P&P staff. Last revised:
Dec. 2004
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