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Category: Rare Books and Special Collections

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Peter Parley Explains the Moon to Children, Part 1

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

Today’s guest post is by Jacqueline Coleburn and Anthony Mullan. Jackie is a rare book cataloger at the Library of Congress and is cataloging the Library’s rare children’s books.  Peter Parley books are a particular interest of hers. These books, which were very popular in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s, offer insight into the evolution …

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Gold Miners, Circus Performers, and Hairdressers – Stories from the Occupational Folklife Project

Posted by: Ellen Terrell

This post was written by Nancy Groce, an ethnomusicologist and folklorist who is a Senior Folklife Specialist in the American Folklife Center.  After years of planning, research, fieldwork, and archiving, the American Folklife Center is excited to begin online posting of material from its Occupational Folklife Project, a major oral history initiative featuring in-depth interviews …

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The Project: Reading a Sanborn Map at the Library part (a)

Posted by: Nancy Lovas

This is the third post in a series addressing digital scholarship in business and economic history related to Library of Congress collections. Read the first post and the second post. I have been making steady, if slow, progress on the next steps I outlined in my last post. identifying a place to focus on which will …