Image of the Day

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Fragment of the original Star Spangled Banner, from Heritage Auctions' recent sale of Civil War memorabilia. The fragment was formerly in the possession of flag restorer Katherine Fowler Richey (1889-1949); her mother Amelia Fowler (1862-1923) was one of ten women who, for eight weeks, fastened the original Star Spangled Banner to a backing of linen using a stitch that Ms. Fowler patented in 1913.

I haven't bought anything from a Heritage auction yet but it's always interesting to see what they have on offer – click here to sign up for email updates.

America

.Jasper Johns

Steven Meisel



Camila Akrans

Tlingit man, Alaska, ca.1910. Photography by Warren Elbridge Merrill

Conway WA

Karolina Kurkova photographed by Tom Munro

Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945. Photograph by Joe Rosenthal

Design for American Flag with 50 Stars, 1959, by Donald Edwards

Kayt Jones

Guam, 1944, by W. Eugene Smith

Ballard WA

Mario Testino for Paris Vogue

Paul Sahre for the New York Times Book Review

Guy Bourdin


Gisele Bundchen photographed by Hedi Slimane
George Maciunas / Fluxus


Jasper Johns


Richard Sandiville (Nez Perce)

F.I.T. Museum


Tacoma WA

Elliott Erwitt

The Cobrasnake x Irregular Choice Americana

Lopez Island WA

US Army deserters, 1968, photographed by Bill Ray

Cat Power

New York City supports the Selma, Alabama Civil Rights Movement, 1965. Photograph by Diana Davies, 1965

Asger Juel Larsen



Leo Castelli

Collier Schorr

A family stands by the train tracks in honor of Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train, June 1968. Photographed by Bill Eppridge.

"Like It or Unfriend It" By Teddy Wayne, Mike Sacks, and Thomas NG from today's New York Times (click here for more).


Bicentennial video (1976) by Vincent Collins for the US Information Agency

More America here

The Past Is Never Dead. It's Not Even Past

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Matmos "Regicide" from The Civil War (2003, Matador).

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, which started the Civil War. More about that after the jump....

Happy Independence Day

. Robert Mapplethorpe

Peter Beard

Lee Friedlander

Joel Meyerowitz

Diane Arbus

Fort McHenry flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner"

William Klein

Kate Moss by Craig McDean

Robert Frank

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cape Cod, 1947: "This woman explained to me that the flagpole over her door was broken, but 'on such a day as this, one keeps one’s flag on one’s heart.'"