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Info: Our guest is photographer Carol Highsmith. In 1980, when the historic Willard Hotel was being renovated, Carol Highsmith asked to photograph the rundown icon of Washington, DC. In doing so, she discovered the work of Francis Benjamin Johnston, who had photographed the then lavish hotel in 1901. Johnston’s photographs were being used by contractors in the renovation process. In researching her work, Highsmith found that Johnston had photographed several presidential administrations, treaty signings, etc. Carol Highsmith later decided to follow the path of her predecessor and give all of her photos to the Library of Congress copyright free. For the past 30 years, she has been traveling the United States and documenting the country through her camera lens. In this program, Carol Highsmith talks about and shows her photography including some from her current project to photograph each state in the country. As a prelude to C-SPAN’s 7/18 debut of its original documentary “The Library of Congress,” Highsmith shows and discusses an earlier project to photograph the entire Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in detail. Some of Highsmith’s photos are used in the documentary.
