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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

Inquiring Minds: Music Scholar Uncovers Forgotten Songs from “My Fair Lady”

Posted by: Erin Allen

The musical “My Fair Lady,” based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” has been praised as the “perfect musical” and is filled with some of the most recognized songs in American musical theater. The hit show opened on Broadway in 1956 and starred Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins. Harrison …

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

Inquiring Minds: How a New Walt Whitman Poem was Found at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a post written by Peter Armenti from the Poetry and Literature Center’s blog, From the Catbird Seat. Armenti spoke with a researcher who discovered a new Walt Whitman poem in the Library’s collections.) Walt Whitman enthusiasts were treated to a surprise last December when news broke that Wendy Katz, an associate professor …

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

A Hole-some Treat

Posted by: Erin Allen

Doughnuts are as quintessential to America as apple pie. Who hasn’t happily licked glaze off his or her fingers or made a mess with powdered sugar? If there were never to be a Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, LaMar’s or neighborhood mom-and-pop bakery, life as we know it would be a less cheery place … these …

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

Creating Cartoons: Art and Controversy

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is an article written by Sara Duke and Martha Kennedy, both of the Prints and Photographs Division, for the May/June 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) The Library’s vast collection of cartoon art chronicles the nation’s political controversies from its founding …

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

Page From the Past: A Show About Nothing

Posted by: Erin Allen

When “The Seinfeld Chronicles” first aired on NBC on July 5, 1989, no one could have predicted that the “show about nothing” would become a cultural phenomenon. Inspired by real-life people and events, the show followed the life of a stand-up comedian and his friends. The pilot episode (pictured left), written by show creators Jerry …