See Also

There is a room full of pictures in the New York Public Library. They are organized into subject headings, such as Accidents, Aging, Airplanes, Asphalt, Astronomy, Black life, Bridges, Central Park, Elections, Fashion, Hair Washing, Kissing, Swimming, Vending machines, Waterfalls, and over 12,000 more. This place is called the Picture Collection. It has over 1.5 million pictures clipped from books and magazines; vintage greeting cards and postcards, photos, and prints, too; most of which can be checked out to take home.

People like you and me, and photographers, painters, writers, movie makers, designers, and students, look at and learn from pictures that you can hold in your hands and spread out on a table instead of scrolling online in a grid on a screen.

It’s where I go to research my curiosities by browsing and I make friends with people doing the same thing in the same place.