Look High

legrandcirque:

Buildings on the southern side of Silver Street near the Mississippi River waterfront. Photograph by Jack Boucher. Natchez, Mississippi, USA, April 1972.

Source:  Historic American Building Survey, Library of Congress

Mascoutah Kennel Club dog show. Dogs from both continents. George Ford Morris, 1901. (Library of Congress)

Happy 200th, Mr. Dickens

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o’clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.” — David Copperfield

Image: Charles Dickens in his study at Gadshill, circa 1875. (Library of Congress)

Portrait of Louis Armstrong, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946 (Library of Congress)

52nd Street, New York, N.Y., ca. 1948 (William P. Gottlieb, Library of Congress)

Omaha, Nebraska, November 1938 (John Vachon, Library of Congress)

Dick Rudolph’s grip on ball, Boston NL, 1914 (Library of Congress)

Guard at Eiffel Tower — Wireless Station, ca. 1910-1915 (Library of Congress)

Title: [Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), three-quarter length portrait, standing by window, facing left]
Date Created/Published: c1907.
Medium: 1 photographic print : stereograph.

(Library of Congress)

Labor Day (May Day) parade, New York, 1909 (Library of Congress)

Pole Watchers

Spectators at Pittsburgh-Detroit World Series game, October 1909 (Library of Congress)

Ban Johnson, Garry Herrman, Thos. Lynch — World Series, N.Y., October 1911 (Library of Congress) 

If They’d Only Had Foursquare

A number of weeks ago I noticed something in the stacks that I had never seen in the 9 years I have been working at the Library – 16cm X 10cm brass plaques with the words “WATCH STATION” embossed on them.

My first thought was very 21st century -  I thought they were some sort of camera/surveillance system.  But that didn’t make any sense given the fact that they were installed when the building was being built in the 1930′s. So I decided to ask around. One of those people I questioned was Ken Schaaf in Library Services.  I found out the plaques were part of the system used by the night watchmen to check in while on their rounds. He wrote:

As watchman or guards would make their rounds through the night, they would need to visit each watch station, insert a key, and then move on to the next watch station in a set sequence.

— Ellen Terrell, Library of Congress Inside Adams blog

A view of the old sea town, Stonington, Conn., November 1940 (Library of Congress)

High time

Monk fixing clock above painting, Sikkim (Library of Congress)

HT: Public Domain Images Online