If you have a small child in your life, you likely know “Goodnight Moon” by heart: “In the great green room there was a telephone. And a red balloon. And a picture of the cow jumping over the moon…”
Frank Phillips’s bed at the Phillips Home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, November 29, 2020. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.65305
Trademark registration by Farmers Feed Company of New Jersey for [Cow and Crescent Moon Logo] brand Dried Brewers’ Grains. March 25, 1902. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/trmk.1t37975As I (happily) read Margaret Wise Brown’s soothing bedtime story to my daughter for the fourteen millionth time, I started thinking about the visual nature of the book as a playful framework for exploring our collection.
Drawing inspiration from Clement Hurd’s dreamlike illustrations of the contents of a sleepy bunny’s bedroom, I turned to the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog. We now say goodnight to two little kittens and a pair of mittens:
Two jolly kittens at a feast. Lithograph by Thomas Kelly, 1874. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.11340
Trademark registration by Star Knitting Company for Seamless Gusset Mitten brand Knit Mittens. December 8, 1896. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/trmk.1t29253
Some clocks and socks:
Trademark registration by E. Ingraham & Co. for [Multiple] brand Clocks. December 12, 1871. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/trmk.1t00577
Legs and feet of five teenage girls wearing dog collar anklets on their socks. New York World-Telegram photo by Roger Higgins, 1953. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c25447
A little toy house and a young mouse:
Kindergarten children in Horace Mann School working on doll houses. See Bliss report. Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photo by Lewis W. Hine, March 1917. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/nclc.05238
1. Jumping mouse. 2. White footed mouse. 3. Meadow mouse. 4. Brown rat. Lithograph copyrighted by L. Prang & Co., 1874. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pga.12053
Stars and air:
Astronomical maps, no. 16, clusters of stars, primary systems and nebulae. Engraving, 1847. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.44239
Equivalent. Set P, print 6. Photo by Alfred Stieglitz, 1929. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ds.00892
Goodnight readers everywhere.
What playful frameworks might you use to explore the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog?
Learn More:
- Watch Mac Barnett, the 2025-26 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, discuss Goodnight Moon at the 2022 National Book Festival.
- Revisit this blog post celebrating images of people enjoying a good book.
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