Snapshots of the Past

[Cartoon - The Library of Congress in microfilm"]" – Historic Reproduction

[Cartoon - The Library of Congress in microfilm"]" — historic image
[Cartoon - The Library of Congress in microfilm"]". Historic image from the Library of Congress collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: [Cartoon - The Library of Congress in microfilm"]", preserved in this historic image. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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[Cartoon - The Library of Congress in microfilm"]"

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A humorous drawing titled "The Library of Congress in microfilm" pokes fun at the idea of an entire national library shrinking onto strips of film. By the mid-1960s, microfilm had become a central tool for libraries and archives. Filming fragile newspapers, books, and manuscripts both preserved them from further decay and made them easier to store and share. The cartoon, dated to about 1966, reflects the public's mixed feelings about a technology that promised space savings and access while also raising questions about how a library's collections could be fully represented on film.

Medium1 item.
Notesc1966.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,230 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-121930

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