Snapshots of the Past Wall Art, L | sku-13275109490

Snapshots of the Past Wall Art in Black, size L (sku-13275109490; UPC 468133771271), shows a machine used in the second step of destroying paper money at the Office of the U.S. Treasury. The historic print measures 16 x 20 inches. Snapshots of the Past makes reproductions of maps, photographs and posters restored from Library of Congress archives.

Founded in 2001, the company says it was the first to offer Library of Congress images as fine-art reproduction prints. Its buyers include over 200 bookstores and other retailers, along with tens of thousands of online customers. It was selected as a vendor for the White House redecoration project in 2008. Lithography, invented in 1796, enabled inexpensive mass production of poster prints.

The Library of Congress began its American Memory pilot in 1989. That project laid the groundwork for the National Digital Library Program, which began in 1995 and digitizes selected collections about American cultural history. The prints use archival paper and pigmented inks intended to last for generations.

The collection includes old Halloween, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day posters and early aerial views of Manhattan, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. The prints can be displayed at home or work or given as gifts.