Happy New Year, 2013!

New Year resolutions - till they melt!

New Year Resolutions – Till They Melt! Color offset print by Leighton Budd, 1913. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.27906

One hundred years ago, Leighton Budd created this illustration for the January 1, 1913 edition of Puck, the humor and satire magzine. It pictures two fashionable young women stopping by a snowbank so that one of them can record her New Year’s resolutions: “1913 No Jealousy No Anger No Flirt.” Alas, it is unclear whether she intends to say “flirting,” or is having second thoughts. In any case, she need not be too concerned as her resolutions will not prove indelible, lasting only until the next snowfall or warming trend renders them invisible . . . and forgotten!

Wishing you a Happy New Year, 2013!

Learn More:

In case you missed it in the rush of the holidays, revisit Woody Woodis’s December 20 post Puck Cartoons: “Launched at Last!” to learn more about these recent additions to the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog.

Puck Cartoons: “Launched at Last!”

The following is a guest post by Woody Woodis, Cataloging Specialist, Prints & Photographs. Imagine the pleasure of spending your days looking at cartoons created over a century ago. That opportunity landed on my desk in the form of a digitization and cataloging project of over 2,500 color cartoon illustrations published in Puck magazine between …

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From Player Portraits to Baseball Cards

With the World Series just around the bend, baseball has been on my mind. In 1910, photographer Paul Thompson copyrighted a series of photographic portraits he had taken of baseball players. The portraits are simple straight-on head-and-shoulders shots with the players gazing directly back at the camera. These same portraits would serve as the basis …

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In Full Bloom: Celebrating 100 Years of Cherry Blossoms in D.C.

One hundred years ago, the city of Tokyo sent Washington, D.C. a gift of friendship that continues to bloom today. Quite literally, in fact! Three thousand flowering cherry trees arrived in D.C. in 1912, and started what has become an annual spring tradition for residents of the D.C. area and thousands of tourists: going to …

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Happy Valentine’s Day

In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is a vintage 1883 advertisement for Prang’s Valentine Cards which shows a woman holding a group of tethered cherubs, who float like a bunch of balloons above her head. The advertisement also shows that the sale of Valentine’s greetings has been of commercial importance for well over a century. …

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