Snapshots of the Past

[Children in school in Washington, D.C. - learning how a compass is made] – Historic Print

[Children in school in Washington, D.C. - learning how a compass is made], [1899?] — historic photograph
[Children in school in Washington, D.C. - learning how a compass is made], [1899?]. Historic photograph from the Washington DC 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

This historic photograph of [Children in school in Washington, D.C. - learning how a compass is made] brings a moment of history to your wall. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Children in school in Washington, D.C. - learning how a compass is made]

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Schoolchildren in Washington, D.C., are shown learning how a compass is made, a hands-on science lesson that reflects the object-based teaching gaining ground in American classrooms in the late 1890s. The picture is a cyanotype, an early photographic process that produces pale shapes on a deep blue ground and was widely used for inexpensive copies before blueprints became standard. Frances Benjamin Johnston, a Washington photographer known for recording the city's everyday life and institutions, made the image, which its caption tentatively dates to about 1899. Its place among her school scenes makes it a useful record of classroom practice in the capital at the turn of the century.

Created / published[1899?]
Medium1 photographic print : cyanotype.
GenreCyanotypes 1890-1900.
NotesTitle and other information transcribed from caption card. Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection (Library of Congress). In album: 3rd Division.""
SubjectsEducation--Washington (D.C.)--1890-1900.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,083 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-160102

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