As part of the Library of Congress’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, the Rare Book and Special Collections Division is creating a series of short films to present items that highlight aspects of American history and culture.
Special thanks to the Library’s Multimedia Group for their skill and expertise in bringing these films to life!
We will continue to add to our America 250 series in the runup to July 4th, 2026, but here are the films that we have produced in our first few sessions:
The Goddard Printing of the Declaration of Independence
In January of 1777, after evacuating Philadelphia for Baltimore, the Continental Congress commissioned Mary Katharine Goddard to print a second issue of the Declaration of Independence. This time, those who signed the Declaration in July of 1776 reasserted their commitment to the cause of Independence by allowing their names to be printed on the broadside. Mary Katharine Goddard put her name in print, too. In this film, Marianna Stell tells the story of this printing of the Declaration of Independence and explains broadsides as a crucial form of printed communication.
James Monroe as Diplomat and Scholar
Decades prior to becoming our nation’s fifth President, James Monroe served the United States as Minister to France. During his time in Paris, he purchased a rare book about Roman history that he later referenced during his retirement as he wrote a book about the history of republican governments. This film explains Monroe’s turbulent years as a diplomat, his relationship with George Washington, and his research into political history.
Two 19th Century American Board Games
What does it mean to win the game of life? Children’s board games teach cultural values and measurements of success to a society’s youngest members. A comparison of these two 19th century board games, one from 1843 and one from 1889, reveal the cultural shift that occurred in the United States during the second half of the 19th century. Library Cataloguer Jackie Coleburn explores the similarities and differences between these two board games in this film.
In the American Colonies, pocket sized almanacs outsold all other types of books combined. These little books were handy, printed tools used by readers every day, providing weather predictions, the dates of important religious and civic events, business resources, medical guidance, and informative essays. This film explains how Benjamin Franklin achieved economic security by writing and publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac and explores an almanac used by George Washington.
The First American Math Textbook
In 1729, the first American mathematics textbook, Arithmetic Vulgar and Decimal, was published anonymously in Boston. The story of its author, Isaac Greenwood, and his little book, with its shortcuts and blank space for calculations, is one of home-grown American industry, innovation, and tragedy. In this film, Ralph Pantozzi, an Albert Einstein Fellow, explains the biographical context and textual innovations that distinguish the first American math textbook.
One of America’s first great poets to achieve international acclaim, Phillis Wheatley wrote about key events and figures of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre and General George Washington. She was also an enslaved woman who had to prove her abilities time and time again. This film presents the story of her book, Poems on Various Topics, Religious and Moral, published in 1773.
The first book produced in British North America was the Bay Psalm Book, printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1640. Despite being error-ridden and not particularly well printed, this little book is among the rarest and most valuable items in the Library’s collections. In this film, Kevin Butterfield, Director of the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, explains the history behind the first book printed in what became the United States.
Among the most formative moments in the development of an American culture independent of European traditions was the publication of American Cookery, the first cookbook written by an American for an American audience. In this film, RBSCD Reference Librarian Amanda Zimmerman explains culinary culture in the early United States, the importance of Amelia Simmons’s 1796 cookbook, and an errata sheet that suggests someone’s attempt to sabotage this publication.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was not always considered to be so great. Unflattering reviews and disappointing sales had confined the novel to obscurity for decades before it re-entered the public consciousness during World War II. In this film, Patrick Hastings presents the history of The Great Gatsby and its unlikely journey to become one of the Great American Novels.