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Letters About Literature: Dear Walter Isaacson

Posted by: Erin Allen

We continue our spotlight of letters from the Letters About Literature initiative, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives. Winners were announced last week. In this next installment, we highlight the …

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

Rare Book of the Month: Redouté’s Royal Roses

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.) When Pierre-Joseph Redouté put together his three-installment publication (1817-1824) “Les Roses” in Paris, he created a thing of great beauty as well as a scientific compendium on the botany of roses. Commissioned by the Empress Josephine, this work …

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

Letters About Literature: Dear Wendelin Van Draanen

Posted by: Erin Allen

Letters About Literature, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives, announced its 2015 winners today. More than 50,000 young readers from across the country participated in this year’s initiative funded by …

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

The Hero of Two Worlds

Posted by: Erin Allen

  The “hero of two worlds” – as the Marquis de Lafayette has been called – has recently been in the news. A replica of the 18th century French frigate that ferried him to America on his most important mission has been making the rounds of the East Coast, on a journey to commemorate the …

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

The Battle of Waterloo

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post from Taru Spiegel, reference specialist in the Library’s European Division.) Today marks the 200th anniversary of the history-changing Battle of Waterloo in 1815. This engagement ended in the conclusive defeat of Napoleon and his French generals and was a costly victory for the Anglo-Dutch, Belgian and German forces. The …

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

Book Festival Blogging

Posted by: Erin Allen

Calling all readers, the new Library of Congress National Book Festival blog launched this week! It’s one of the many ways that we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the nation’s premier celebration of books and reading. This year’s festival will take place during Labor Day weekend on Saturday, September 5, 2015, at the Walter …

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

First Among Many

Posted by: Erin Allen

The printing press that helped spread world-changing ideas of revolution, liberty and self-governance through early America grew from a humble beginning: a small, error-filled book of religious devotion, produced by a locksmith for settlers forging a home in the North American wilderness. A new Library of Congress exhibition explores early printing in the American colonies, …

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

Pics of the Week: Auntie Rosa Remembered

Posted by: Erin Allen

Rosa Parks is known as a pioneer of the civil rights movement, a heroine for her courage of convictions. Yet, few knew the other side of her life – one spent as a devoted mother figure to her nieces and nephews. One such niece, Sheila McCauley Keys, was at the Library last week to remember …

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

Young Gun

Posted by: Erin Allen

In 1882, Sheriff Pat Garrett published his account of the apprehension and death of Billy the Kid, whom he shot and killed on July 14, 1881. “‘The Kid’ had a lurking devil in him; it was a good-humored, jovial imp, or a cruel and blood-thirsty fiend, as circumstances prompted. Circumstances favored the worser angel, and …