Minneapolis’ Lake Creature

Scotland has the  Loch Ness Monster. Minneapolis has Minne.

*** You can click on a picture to view it larger and then scroll through the other grouped pictures.***

“Minne” is the Dakota Indian word for water. This sculpture by Cameron Gainer, based on the 1934 infamous photo of the Loch Ness Monster,  started appearing in various Minneapolis lakes back in 2009. For the first couple of years the statue was moved to a different Minneapolis lake every couple of weeks. Then in 2012, public voting determines which one lake* gets to be Minne’s home for the summer**.

This summer Minne’s  home is  Lake Calhoun, the largest of Minneapolis’ 17 lakes. Although I drive around the SE portion of that lake twice most every work day, Minne is located near the NW corner and I hadn’t yet seen her this year.

Jimmy took me out kayaking on Lake Calhoun today. It was a very rare sunny, not too hot day in Minneapolis. We rented a 2 person kayak which made it possible for Jimmy to do most of the paddling and for me to take pictures. I’d never been in a kayak before today. I wish I could enjoy it more. Even covered with sunscreen and protected by sunglasses and hat, the feeling of the sun on my skin sends out warning signals to seek shelter now! I had too many painful sunburns at a young age to be able to relax in the sun.

It’s also very difficult to take a focused picture from a kayak using an old cell phone. (I wasn’t going to take anything I’d miss if I dropped it into the lake out with me.)

The picture on the left is Lake of the Isles which was connected to Lake Calhoun by a canal in 1911.

The canal that linked Lake Calhoun to Lake of the Isles was opened July 4, 1911. Photo courtesy of Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

Many more historic photos and stories online  at Minneapolis Park History and in print in City of Parks: The Story of Minneapolis Parks, both  by David C. Smith.

*Out of the 17 lakes in Minneapolis, only 9 lakes (Brownie, Calhoun, Cedar, Harriet, Hiawatha, Isles, Nokomis, Powderhorn and Wirth) meet the requirements to be Minne’s home base.

** The change was made because of new Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board regulations regarding invasive species that require a two-week holding period when moving Minne between lakes.

Free Art Online – Open Content from the Getty

Getty’s  Open Content Program consists of digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain. Currently there are 100,714 high resolution images that can be downloaded and used for any purpose. No permission is required.

A very small sample of what kind of images are available.

A full set of playing cards from 1765, the jack of diamonds is shown below.

Göbl, Andreas Benedictus, 1765-1792 ink, gold board, with gilt edges ,ca. 1765 ,1 boxed deck of playing cards (79 prints) : etching, stencil, hand col. ; 11.5 x 7 x 3 cm. 

Familiar, famous paintings such as…

Irises,  Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853 – 1890),1889,Oil on canvas, 74.3 x 94.3 cm 

308 Photographs of the American West by Charleton Watkins including this one of a town that Jimmy and I visited a few years ago.

[The Bullion Mine, Virginia City, Nevada], Carleton Watkins, photographer (American, 1829 – 1916), 1875-77, 38.3 x 54 cm

The quality of the downloaded images is much better than that of the enlarged thumbnails shown here. For example, the size of the downloadable file for “Irises” is 109 mb, suitable for printing at the original size of 29 1/4 inch by 37 1/8 inch.

The Old French Embassy Building

I completely agree with the following  comment I received  about this picture included in yesterday’s post.

I love old photos and these pictures are so great to see with the buildings in the background. I hope the French Embassy building is still there.

Ford Motor Co. Ford at French Embassy, [Washington, D.C.]
[between 1910 and 1926]
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

 Since had no idea if the building was still there,  I decided to find out. I found the answer at the bottom of the comments under this photo on The Library of Congress’ photo stream on Flickr.

Photograph shows the French Embassy, designed by architect George Oakley Totten, Jr., now the Council for Professional Recognition at 2460 16th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
[between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920]
George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)

And here is what the building looks like today

Council for Professional Recognition
2460 16th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
via Google Maps

It looks much smaller shot from this angle. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any photos of the interior.

Fords in Washington DC

During the administrations of Presidents Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover (late 19th and early 20th Centuries), the National Photo Company provided photographs of current news events in Washington, D.C. as a daily service to its subscribers. The National Photo Company also provided photographs on assignments for government agencies and businesses such as these for Ford Motor Company.

Ford Motor Co. Ford at French Embassy, [Washington, D.C.]
[between 1910 and 1926]
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

Ford Motor Co., Lincoln at Captiol, [Washington, D.C.]
[between 1910 and 1935]
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

Ford Motor Co. Lincoln at Lincoln Memorial, [Washington, D.C.]
[between 1910 and 1926]
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

Ford Motor Co. Lincoln at War College, [Washington, D.C.]
[between 1910 and 1926]
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

Ford Motor Co. Ford touring car at Library [of Congress, Washington, D.C.]
[between 1910 and 1926]
National Photo Company Collection (Library of Congress)

 

The photographic files of the National Photo Company, including an estimated 80,000 images (photographic prints and corresponding glass negatives), were acquired by the Library of Congress from its proprietor Herbert E. French in 1947. Over 35,000 of these images can be viewed on the LOC’s Prints and Photographs online catalog.

 

Z is for Zoo Posters at the Library of Congress

Originally Posted April 2012

Between 1935 and 1943 artists in the Federal Art Project, a program of the Works Project Administration (WPA), created public art and posters to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs. The WPA Poster Collection at the Library of Congress includes over 900 posters including these zoo posters.

During the same years the Federal Writers Project, another program of the WPA, produced the American Guide Series of books and over 1,200 books and pamphlets. One of these books was Who’s Who in the Zoo which is still available from public and university libraries around the world.

The Federal Arts Project produced this poster to promote the book.

Libby Hall’s Collection of Vintage Dog Photographs

I love vintage photographs of dogs. So much so that in 2013 I spent hours searching online photo archives to find images to use for the A to Z Challenge. The process could have been easier and quicker if I ignored copyright laws. It would have been much easier if Libby Hall’s photo collection  was available then!

Libby Hall spent years and years (1966-2006) gathering possibly the largest collection of vintage dog photography ever made by any single individual. She published five books. Prince and Other Dogs, 1850-1940, Prince and Other Dogs II, These Were Our Dogs,  Postcard Dogs  and Postcard Cats (coauthored with Tom Phillips). All books are available at Amazon.

The collection was edited down to approximately 900 photos  of dogs, mostly with their owners, and donated to the library archives at Bishopgate Institute, London.   Dogs of the First World War, a free exhibition exploring the role of dogs as both companions and workers during the years 1914-18 opens March 10, 2015.

For more information:

• A wonderful short  biography of Libby Hall at Spitalfields Life that includes many vintage photos and a picture of Libby with her dog:  Libby Hall, Collector Of Dog Photography

• A short article and a selection of photo’s at Spitalfields Life: Libby Hall’s Dogs Of Old London

Or, click here to view 537 of Libby Hall’s favorite photos from her collection or here to thumb through the pages of Libby’s newest book, Photography Going to the Dogs: One Hundred Favourite Photographs from The Libby Hall Collection.

link via Nag on the Lake

Z is for Zip Line Riding Dog

Until I came across this photo, I had no idea that zip lines have been in existence for as long as they have.

Mr Tulk and Dog “Sausage” Going Fishing c. 1935 Photograph by Winifred Tulk Courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales

Sources of Photographs:

Mr. Tulk and Dog “Sausage” Going Fishing  via the State Library of New South Wales Collection’s photostream on Flickr. No known copyright restrictions.

Y is for Young Dogs

And to think I was stuck on letter Y for ages. These are the cutest of the puppy pictures from the early part of the 20th century.

Puppies  Which Will Some Day Pull Dog Sleds ca. 1900 – 1923 Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Carpenter Collection

Strictly In It October 31, 1903 Photoprint copyrighted by Brooks & Baird. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Doggies Pose c 1935 Photograph by Leslie Jones Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection

Blizzard, the Pup in Antarctica First Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 c. 1912 Photograph by Frank Hurley courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Sources of Photographs:

Puppies  Which Will Some Day Pull Dog Sleds,  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, LC-DIG-ppmsc-01573. No known restrictions on publication.

Strictly In It, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-86228. No known restrictions on publication.

Doggies Pose   via Boston Public Library’s photostream on Flickr.  © Leslie Jones. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives.

Blizzard, the Pup in Antarctica  via State Library of New South Wales Collection’s photostream on Flickr.   No known copyright restrictions.

A- Z Final Break

A few more great pictures I found that didn’t fit with any of my letters…

Boy and Dog: Tug of War on Ice ca 1934-1956 Photograph by Leslie Jones Courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection

Gloria Swanson & Teddy c 1917 From director Clarence G Badger’s film Teddy at the Throttle

Dog Playing the Piano 1934 – 1956 (approximate) Photographer: Leslie JonesCourtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

Sources of Photographs:

Boy and Dog: Tug of War on Ice  via Boston Public Library’s photostream on Flickr.  © Leslie Jones. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives.

Gloria Swanson & Teddy, still from director Clarence G Badger’s film Teddy at the Throttle (1917) via Wikimedia Commons. This media file is in the public domain in the United States.

Dog Playing Piano  via Boston Public Library’s photostream on Flickr.  © Leslie Jones. Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives.

X is for Xmas Seals and Dog

I really didn’t want to use Xmas for the letter X. It seems like cheating, but I didn’t even find many good photos for that.

There is/was a great vintage lobby card reconstruction called “Brownie the Dog Plays Xylophone” for sale on eBay, but I can’t post it. if you are interested in seeing it, try searching eBay.  (For information about copyright of images posted to eBay, click here).

Calvin Coolidge with Dog and Christmas Seals c 1924 Harris & Ewing, Photographer

Source of Photograph:

Calvin Coolidge with Dog and Christmas Seals, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Harris & Ewing Collection, LC-H234- A-9201. No known restrictions on publication.