Top of page
By: Erin Allen
The Library of Congress presented a special program on Tuesday to honor the Howard G. Buffett Foundation for loaning the Rosa Parks Collection to the Library. A special guest was U.S. Rep. John Conyers, who employed Rosa Parks in his Detroit congressional office for 22 years. Conyers described Rosa Parks as a quiet, humble person …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Erin Allen
Walking into the Chicago office of Allan Pinkerton’s detective agency one afternoon in 1856 was a woman of medium height, “slender, graceful in her movements, and perfectly self-possessed in her manner.” Claiming to be a widow, aged 23, Kate Warne was looking for a job, and not as a secretary. One could imagine Pinkerton’s surprise …
Posted in: Timeless
Happy World Theater Day! We are pleased to release a special interview for this global celebration of stagecraft. Learn more below: On October 17, 2014, Concerts from the Library of Congress presented an evening with leading contemporary Broadway composers Jeanine Tesori, David Yazbek and Steven Lutvak. These three distinguished, award-winning creators represent a diverse set …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest blog post by Julie Miller, early American historian in the Manuscript Division.) In 1766, Philadelphia shopkeeper Rebecca Steel advertised that she had for sale “Dry Goods, Bohea, Green, Hyson, and Congo Teas &c. as usual, at the most reasonable Rates,” and also “a Parcel of fine silks” that she would …
Posted in: Timeless
Yesterday the Library of Congress announced the 2014 selections for the National Recording Registry. The list of hit recordings being added includes a wide-ranging playlist of music from the last hundred years. From “Stand by Me” to Radiohead’s “OK Computer,” the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board selected a compelling array of twenty-five recordings that capture …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Erin Allen
The following is an article from the March/April 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM, in celebration of both Women’s History Month (March) and National Poetry Month (April). The issue can be downloaded in its entirety here. American history specialist Rosemary Fry Plakas highlights several women poets whose works are represented in the …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Jennifer Gavin
Where were you when you first heard that? I was in the theater audience for the movie “Woodstock,” and I recall thinking even then that the section featuring Sly and the Family Stone was the high point of the film. Now, whenever I hear “I Want to Take You Higher,” which has the Boom-shaka-laka-laka bridge …
Posted in: Timeless
By: David Plylar
I woke up on Friday morning with Frühlingstimmen on my mind, either because subconsciously I was aware that it was supposed to be the first day of Spring, or perhaps I have larger concerns given that I am hearing voices of Spring in my head. In any case, I was puzzled to see that it …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Betty Lupinacci
Looking for a good legal dictionary? Well the Law Library has over 4200 of them, covering countries and languages from Chinese to Estonian to Cameroon. Many of these titles contain more than one language. So you could even draft your motion, translate it to French, and then from French to Portuguese, if you were so …
Posted in: In Custodia Legis
By: Jennifer Gavin
Photography was well-established by the dawn of the 20th Century–it had graduated from the tintype and daguerreotype to innovations allowing for smaller cameras and more portable exposure media. But as the 1800s became the 1900s, portrait photography carried forward a tradition of depicting people sitting stiffly, staring sternly into the camera. A handsome young immigrant …
Posted in: Timeless