Helen Keller (1880–1968) was a deafblind American author, political activist, and lecturer. The story of how Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, broke through the isolation imposed by a near complete lack of language, allowing the girl to blossom as she learned to communicate, has become widely known through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. A prolific author, Keller was well-traveled, and was outspoken in her opposition to war. A member of the Socialist Party of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, she campaigned for women's suffrage, workers' rights, and socialism, as well as many other leftist causes.

Photo: Unknown; Restoration: Lise Broer

An 1880 political cartoon depicts Senator Roscoe Conkling over a "presidential puzzle" consisting of some of the potential Republican nominees as pieces of a newly invented sliding puzzle. Conkling held significant influence over the party during the 1880 Republican National Convention and attempted to use that to nominate Ulysses S. Grant, only to lose out to "dark horse" candidate James A. Garfield.

Artist: James Albert Wales; Lithography: Mayer, Merkel, & Ottmann; Restoration: Jujutacular

An ink-and-wash illustration of a stucco relief on a building in Palenque, a Maya city in southern Mexico that flourished in the 7th century, but was abandoned around 800. It was first discovered by European explorers in the 16th century, but remained mostly unexplored until 1773. This particular piece was likely constructed during the long reign of K'inich Janaab' Pakal (mid-7th century), and is thought to depict Mayan ancestral rulers or the parents thereof. The standing figure holds a sceptre in the left hand, and in the right, a length of material. The seated figures adopt a posture of submission or deference, with hands placed on opposite shoulders.

Artist: Ricardo Almendáriz; Restoration: Lise Broer

A photographer's assistant uses a portable folding reflector to "bounce" available sunlight onto the model. Also known as a bounce board, this type of reflector is useful when the available light is insufficient for what the scene requires, and using a flash would make the lighting too harsh. Here, because of the mostly overcast day, the sun is positioned in the wrong location to illuminate both the model and desired background properly, so a reflector is used to accomplish the task.

Photo: Mila Zinkova

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An animation showing the unfolding of a Dymaxion map, a projection of a world map onto the surface of a polyhedron (in this case, an icosahedron) and then flattened to form a two-dimensional map which retains most of the relative proportional integrity of the globe map. This type of map was invented by Buckminster Fuller and is one of several of his inventions to use the name Dymaxion.

Image: Chris Rywalt

A synagogue on West Twenty-Third Street in New York City remained open 24 hours on D-Day for special services and prayer. Jews in the U.S. during World War II were mostly unaware of the atrocities of The Holocaust, beyond the basic facts that Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis. Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times and a Jew himself, was anti-Zionist and downplayed much of the news. Furthermore, Jewish studio executives of major film studios did not want to be accused of advocating Jewish propaganda by making films with overtly antifascist themes.

Photo: Farm Security Administration; Restoration: Lise Broer

The Meadow Argus (Junonia villida) is a species of butterfly native to Australasia. Its brown wings are each covered with two distinctive black and blue eyespots as well as white and orange marks that appear on the edge of the wings. Males and females are similar in appearance and size, with females being slightly larger.

Photo: JJ Harrison

The sketch for the frontispiece to Original Stories from Real Life, the only complete work of children's literature by 18th-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. The book was first published by Joseph Johnson in 1788; a second, illustrated edition, with engravings by William Blake based on his own drawings, was released in 1791 and remained in print for around a quarter of a century. The book begins with a frame story, which sketches out the education of two young girls by their maternal teacher Mrs. Mason, followed by a series of didactic tales. Wollstonecraft employed the then burgeoning genre of children's literature to promote the education of women and an emerging middle-class ideology. She argued that women would be able to become rational adults if they were educated properly as children, which was not a widely-held belief in the 18th century.

Artist: William Blake; Restoration: Lise Broer

Old Beach, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia (left), and the Meehan Range, a prominent series of steep hills running parallel to the River Derwent on Hobart's eastern shore. Visible in this stitched panoramic view are Mount Direction (rightmost peak) and Gunners Quoin (cliff).

Photo: JJ Harrison

A portolan chart from 1492, the oldest known signed and dated chart of Portuguese origin. Cartography technologies greatly advanced during the Age of Discovery. Iberian mapmakers in particular focused on practical charts to use as navigational aids. Unlike Spanish maps which were regarded as state secrets, Portuguese ones were used by other countries, and Portuguese cartographers drew upon the skill and knowledge of other cultures as well.

Map: Jorge de Aguiar

A portrait of Edward M. Thomas, one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots in United States military history. During World War II, the U.S. military was still racially segregated. In 1941, the Army Air Corps formed the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Their first combat assignment was to attack the island of Pantelleria in preparation for the Allied invasion of Sicily. On June 11, 1943, the island surrendered; it was the first time in history an enemy's military resistance had been overcome solely by air power.

Photo: Toni Frissell; Restoration: Lise Broer