Colorful additions to the LC Prints & Photographs Online Catalog

[Laura Gottesman]

Please excuse any cross postings:

The Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division is pleased to announce that a variety of colorful offerings are now available in the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html  

These include:

"Prokudin-Gorskii Collection Color Composite Digital Images" - Between ca. 1905 and 1915 Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii took photographs of the Russian Empire using an early color process. He photographed through color filters onto triple-frame glass negatives, producing images that could be printed or projected in color. In response to researcher interest, the Library of Congress contracted with Blaise Agüera y Arcas to make digital color composites of all the negatives through an automated process. A description of the process is available at:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/prokhtml/prokcompos.html. 

To view the resulting images in PPOC, go to the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html, select the blue button labeled: "Search the Catalog," and then scroll down the alphabetical list of collections to "Prokudin-Gorskii Collection."  After selecting the collection, you can search the catalog records or select the "Preview: Negatives in Color" link to view the color composites.

More information about the Prokudin-Gorskii Collection is available at: 
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/prokhtml/prokabt.html

"Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Transparencies, 1939-1944: New High Resolution Scans "-These already popular early Kodachrome transparencies include scenes in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, showing work, home and community life, and preparations for war. The new scans were also used to produce the illustrations for Bound for Glory, a new book by Paul Hendrikson about the color FSA/OWI photographs, co-published by the Library of Congress and Harry N. Abrams.  For further information, see "About the FSA/OWI Color Transparencies" http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/fsacabt.html

"Cartoon Prints, British" - About 500 of the Library's 10,000 British political and satirical prints dating ca. 1621-ca. 1853 have been digitized and cataloged online. With colorful and often biting humor, the cartoons highlight aspects of British political life, including tensions with its colonies and other nations, as well as society, fashion, manners, and theater. The online records can now be searched together in the "Cartoon Prints, British" collection, which also features new contextual information and a bibliography.  

For more information, see http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/cpbrhtml/cpbrabt.html

The Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) contains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and other units of the Library of Congress.
  
 * The catalog provides access through group or item records to about 65 percent of the Division's holdings.

  * About 90 percent of the records are accompanied by one or more digital images. In some collections, only thumbnail images display to those searching outside the Library of Congress because of potential rights considerations.
                                                                                                                              
For information on other new collections and recent and upcoming activities in the Prints and Photographs Division, see the division's "What's New" page: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/whatsnew.html

For questions about the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog [PPOC] or the holdings and services of the Prints and Photographs Division, consult its Ask a Librarian service: http://www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ask-print.html

Laura Gottesman
Digital Reference Specialist
The Library of Congress