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Art on November 3, 2021
About 30 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, political campaigns increasingly targeted women for votes. Political appeals to women were by no means a new idea. However, women’s relatively recent victory in winning the right to vote, coupled with postwar sexism, added modern twists to old traditions of looking for women’s political support.
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Art on September 16, 2021
Congressional license plates may have been just thin strips of metal affixed to the top of a regular license plate, but the plates ended up giving Members of Congress motoring superpowers.
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Art on August 30, 2021
On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson. This first-ever presidential impeachment captured the public’s attention, and mass-produced images—the up-and-coming visual media—fed the hunger for details.
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Take a close look at this “Bird’s-eye View” stereoview. The photographer pointed his camera northwest from the Capitol dome toward Indiana Avenue and clicked. The result shows a city exploding into being in the 1870s and 1880s.
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Home to more than 13,000 artifacts and works of art, the House Collection encompasses the institution’s history. This Edition for Educators highlights pieces that reflect the relationship between material culture and the history of the nation’s legislature.
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Five paintings in the House Collection show how Science Committee chairs shared national enthusiasm for extraterrestrial exploration and embedded allusions to America’s space program in their portraits.
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A tin bank, model voting machine, coloring book, and board game are included in the House Collection. While some are toys meant for children and others are aids for lifelong learners, all have congressional themes. In addition to their primary use, they also communicate the importance of civic engagement and the functions of Congress.
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In November 1899, Washington, DC, loaned the Architect of the Capitol a fire engine, along with its firemen, for a special task: to give the Capitol a bath. As House Collection photographs show, the custom continued for more than 60 years.
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Art on February 26, 2021
A dramatic backstory helped to launch Robert Smalls’s congressional career in the 1870s. A century later, the daring ship captain and Civil War hero’s story reappeared in the public eye as the subject of a volume of
Golden Legacy, a comic book format Black history series for children.
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Art on January 25, 2021
Civil rights, Congress, and the performances of jazz pianist Hazel Scott coincided in the late 1940s and early 1950s. “I’ve been brash all my life, and it’s gotten me into a lot of trouble,” Scott said. “But at the same time, speaking out has sustained me and given meaning to my life.”
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Art on December 3, 2020
The Parliamentarian's index finger rests on one precise spot in his scrapbook of precedents—the important reference file of a man known for his influence.
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Art on November 9, 2020
On February 21, 1868, a one-sentence resolution in the House of Representatives brought thousands running to the Capitol: “That Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors.” Alongside the national consequences of impeachment, massive public interest caused a smaller development: the introduction of gallery passes.
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