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Hooray for Joy!

Posted by: Robert Casper

Today is one of the biggest days of the year for the Poetry and Literature Center—it’s the day of the Poet Laureate announcement. I want to say how honored and excited we at the Center—and throughout the Library of Congress—are that Joy Harjo will be our 23rd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry. Today’s announcement has been …

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Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Awards Grant to Academy of American Poets for “Teach This Poem”

Posted by: Robert Casper

Exciting news: The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Regional program has just awarded a $20,000 grant to the Academy of American Poets to support the addition of resources from the Library’s collections to the Academy’s Teach This Poem series for the 2019-2020 school year. In celebration of this news, I asked Academy of American …

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Watch “Walt Whitman: Citizen Poet”

Posted by: Anne Holmes

Yesterday, the Library of Congress celebrated Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday with a public open house in the Thomas Jefferson Building. From 2:30 to 5:00, the room buzzed with energy as Library staff showed off a host of rarely seen Whitman collection items from the Manuscript, Rare Book and Special Collections, Prints and Photographs, and Music …

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Walt Whitman in Popular Culture: When Can We Buy a Bobblehead?

Posted by: Peter Armenti

The following guest post is by Abby Yochelson, Reference Specialist in the Main Reading Room, Researcher & Reference Services Division. The Library of Congress will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Whitman’s birthday in spring 2019 with a series of exhibits, public programs, and a digital crowdsourcing campaign to showcase the Library’s unparalleled collections of Whitman’s writings …

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Celebrate Walt Whitman’s Legacy at the Library of Congress Young Readers Center on June 1 (Tomorrow!)

Posted by: Anne Holmes

The following guest post is by Sasha Dowdy, program specialist in the Library’s Young Readers Center. To have great poets, there must be great audiences. So said Walt Whitman, the famous 19th century American poet born on this day in 1819. And most would say Whitman became that great poet with even greater audiences: Whitman …

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Hear it at the Library: The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Performs a New Work Inspired by Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman”

Posted by: Anne Holmes

The following guest post is by Anne McLean, Senior Producer for Concerts and Special Projects in the Library’s Music Division. Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies. I say, It’s in the …

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Whitman: Designing Leaves

Posted by: Anne Holmes

The following guest post is by Amanda Zimmerman, reference assistant in the Library’s Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The Library of Congress will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Whitman’s birthday in spring 2019 with a series of exhibits, public programs, and a digital crowdsourcing campaign to showcase the Library’s unparalleled collections of Whitman’s writings and …

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May 30 webinar explores the Library’s digitized Walt Whitman collections

Posted by: Peter Armenti

As From the Catbird Seat readers are no doubt aware from the recent string of Walt Whitman posts we’ve featured, the Library is in the middle of a season-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birthday. As part of this celebration, the Library has launched several new online Whitman-related initiatives and resources, including: …

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Celebrating Walt Whitman’s 200th Birthday

Posted by: Peter Armenti

The following cross-post is by Paul Sommerfeld, a Reference Specialist in the Music Division of the Library of Congress. It also appears on In The Muse: Performing Arts Blog. Since publishing Leaves of Grass in June 1855, Walt Whitman and his poetry have captured the American imagination. Not until the early twentieth century, however, did …