The successful explorers at the South Pole. “Original photos taken at South Pole by capt Amundsen Dec. 14th 1911” and “Films developed and printed by E.W. Searle Mar. 12th 1912 for Capt Amundsen.”—Inscriptions on album.
Beautiful documents! Blueprints, by the way, are actually cyanotypes, a kind of photograph. They should always be stored away from light.
These survey maps are held in a series of records created by the Surveyor General of Arizona, Frank S. Ingalls, near the end of the 19th century.
In 1891, the U.S. Congress created the Court of Private Land Claims to decide land rights cases for persons whose land rights were affected by the Gadsden Purchase and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago. In order to maintain ownership of the land, the petitioner would have to prove that he had been granted the land by Mexican or Spanish authorities before the end of the Mexican American War. The survey maps show the areas that two parties were attempting to prove ownership of, with indications of major markers such as springs and mining areas.
nypl:
Today [September 15] is President William Howard Taft’s birthday, so we thought we’d remind everyone that back on May 23, 1911, he presided over the opening of our landmark building on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue (above is a Digital Gallery photo of the building’s iconic Reading Room as it was being built in December 1909).
At the ceremony, Taft said: “This day crowns a work of National importance. The dedication of this beautiful structure for the spread of knowledge among the people marks not only the consummation of a noteworthy plan for bringing within the grasp of the humblest and poorest citizen the opportunity for acquiring information on every subject of every kind, but it furnishes a model and example for other cities which have been struggling with the same problem, and points for them the true way.”
Happy birthday, Mr. President.
The Fitzgeralds’ passports
It was a polar bear.
Jules Férat, from The fur country, by Jules Verne, Boston, 1874.
(Source: archive.org)
On May 19, 1919 House Joint Resolution 1 was introduced. The resolution proposed a Constitutional amendment extending the right to vote to women. The resolution was passed in the House on May 21, and in the Senate on June 4. Once the proposed amendment passed Congress, it was sent to states for ratification. On August 18, 1920 the amendment was ratified and became part of the U.S. Constitution.
House Joint Resolution 1, 5/19/1919, HR 66A-B6, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives (ARC 1633885)
Here’s a before and after of Congress Street, just west of Congress Square. The building on the right is the Baxter Library building. Originally a public library, the building was part of MECA from the 1970’s-2000. It was beautifully renovated in 2010 to be occupied by it’s current tenant, the Via Agency. (Before photo via the Library of Congress)
The Photographer (c. 1850’s); Artist unknown
Lady Liberty’s face, as seen on Liberty Island, waiting to be installed…
