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Category: Film

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

Good Timing for a Sliming

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

This year’s list of 25 noteworthy films named to the Library of Congress National Film Registry is out, and it includes some well-known favorites: “Ghostbusters,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Top Gun,” even the original Douglas Fairbanks vehicle “Zorro.”  Films are annually named to the registry that are culturally, historically or aesthetically important; the object is preservation …

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

The Future is Now

Posted by: Erin Allen

Jumping gigawatts! Today, the future has arrived! If you were around in 1989, Oct. 21, 2015, may have seemed light-years away, and you might have thought we would all be riding around in flying cars or something. Well, your imagination isn’t as far-fetched as you think. On this day, Marty McFly jumped through time to …

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

Library in the News: July 2015 Edition

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Library’s announcement of Willie Nelson as the next recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Music dominated the headlines in July, with more than 1,000 news stories running nationally and internationally. “His voice, seemingly worn by time and burdened by experience even in his earliest recordings, attracted new audiences to country,” reported David Morgan for …

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

Hypothesis of a Culture

Posted by: Erin Allen

April Rodriguez, one of 36 Library of Congress Junior Fellow Summer Interns, wrote the following post while working in the Library’s American Folklife Center. Rodriguez recently received a master’s degree in library information studies from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She also has a background in sound engineering and film archiving, and she was …

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

History You Could Really Sink Your Teeth Into

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

E.L. Doctorow, a giant of American letters who uplifted the genre of the historical novel, died yesterday at the age of 84. The author of “Ragtime,” “World’s Fair,” “Billy Bathgate,” “The March,” “Welcome to Hard Times” and “Andrew’s Brain,” among many other works of fiction, will be much missed. Doctorow was the recipient of the …

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

Under the Boardwalk

Posted by: Erin Allen

The travel and tourism industry owes itself to many historical “firsts.” In 1782, Scottish engineer James Watt invented the first steam engine able to turn wheels. On May 10, 1869, the completion of the first transcontinental railroad was commemorated with the driving of a “golden spike.” In 1794, the City Hotel opened in New York …

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 …