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Archive: December 2016 (14 Posts)

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

World War I: Lubok Posters in the World Digital Library

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following guest post is by John Van Oudenaren, director for scholarly and educational programs at the Library of Congress.) By the time the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the European powers had been fighting for more than two-and-a-half years. U.S. troops joined their British, French and Belgian allies in battles …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Highlighting the Holidays: Under the Mistletoe

Posted by: Erin Allen

The holidays are full of many traditions – gift giving, sending cards, singing and cooking. Also kissing. If ever there was a time to pucker up, it’s in December, underneath the mistletoe. Washington Irving wrote in the 1800s, “young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under [mistletoe], plucking each time a berry from …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Witnesses to History

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following was written by Barbara Orbach Natanson, head of the reference section in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division, and featured in the November/December 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) The Library’s documentary photograph collections provide a rich, visual record of the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

What Do You Go to the Movies For?

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

This year’s entries to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, 25 in all (bringing the grand total of films of cultural, historic or aesthetic value to be preserved for posterity to 700), will fulfill many of our reasons for going to the pictures: “I go to the movies to be terrified.” – Well, we’re …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Rare Item of the Month: Mary’s Treasures

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.) This month, in honor of Mary Todd Lincoln’s birthday on December 13, we will depart from our literary theme and look at some of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division’s “special collections.” While these items are not …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

10 Reasons You Should Want To Be A Junior Fellow

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post written by Kaleena Black, program manager for the 2016 Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program.) Are you thinking about applying to the Library of Congress Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program, but aren’t quite sure? The program is a 10-week paid fellowship for undergraduate and graduate students who will work full-time …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Support the 2017 Book Festival

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post from Sue Siegel, director of development at the Library of Congress.) To Stephen King, the master of horror, a truly frightening scenario is the emergence of a world of non-readers. King, a champion of literacy recognized by the Library of Congress, says that reading is critical to opening up …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pic of the Week: Pulling Strings

Posted by: Erin Allen

Luthier John Montgomery inspects the strings on the 1697 “Castelbarco” cello made by Cremonese master Antonio Stradivari, one of five Stradivari instruments originally donated to the Library by Gertrude Clarke Whittall in 1935. According to her bequest, the instruments would be played from time to time, as they were intended. To that end, she established …