Top of page

Blogs Categories: Collections

Blogs Categories: Collections

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

Preserving 'Herblock' a Rewarding Job for Conservators

By:

Ever wonder what goes on before an exhibition is mounted and displayed?  My colleague Donna Urschel takes an in-depth look at the preservation steps that were required for the Library’s “Herblock!” exhibition, on display through May 1: Preserving ‘Herblock’ a Rewarding Job for Conservators by Donna Urschel Shortly after the famous Washing­ton Post political cartoonist …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

In the meadow we can build a historic snowman

By:

The Mid-Atlantic United States has weathered an unusual amount of snow this winter.  In the Muse rang in the season with wintry songs to while away the eve of a storm that left the Washington, D.C. area with a blanket 19 inches thick. Today’s forecast predicts a storm to match or exceed that total. The …

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

More Reasons to Watch Super Bowl Than Football

By:

Even for many of those who might yawn their way through the gridiron action on Sunday between New Orleans and Indianapolis, they will perk right up and stare intently at the screen during the station breaks. Super Bowl commercials have become something of an event of their own, alongside the actual game.  The Inside Adams …

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

New Optical Lab Brings LOC into 21st Century

By:

(The following is a guest article about new preservation capabilities at the LOC by my colleague Donna Urschel, which was recently published in the the Library’s staff newsletter, the Gazette.) For many decades, details of the 1791 Pierre L’Enfant Plan of Washington, D.C.—one of the many treasures at the Library of Congress—had been obscured. A …

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

A Masterful Frame Job

By:

In 1867, the American West was still very much wild.  It was into that new frontier that a young photographer named Timothy O’Sullivan ventured to provide a visual record of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, led by Clarence King. As much a PR effort to encourage settlement of the West as it was …

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

Library’s Flickr Site Celebrates the Taggable Twos

By:

(Guest post by Michelle Springer, Library of Congress Office of Strategic Initiatives) Jan. 16 is the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Library’s account on Flickr, the photosharing website. We started with approximately 3,100 photos in our account; today 30 additional archives, libraries, and museums from the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, the …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

By:

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929.  Let us celebrate the man, his dream, and our reality. From the Music Division, sing along to “We shall overcome.” On American Memory, read about The Civil Rights Era. Read more about Dr. King on Today in History.

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

NAACP Online Exhibition, Symposium Coming

By:

As America prepares to celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday later this month, the Library of Congress also will have two offerings in February in commemoration of African American History Month.  On Feb. 3, the Library will launch a new online exhibition about the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

The Big Beat

By:

The photographs of  William P. Gottlieb (1917-2006 ) are a priceless document of the jazz era in the ’30’s and ’40’s.  In the Muse will occasionally highlight selections from this collection. Today we celebrate the birthdays of two legendary jazz drummers. When the Music Division prepared the Gottlieb collection for digitization in the ’90’s, Gottlieb worked …

Woman with dark hair, fancy dress and pearls with eyes closed and mouth slightly open, singing

In Memoriam: Edward Beach

By:

The Music Division was saddened to learn that legendary jazz broadcaster Edward Beach passed awayon Christmas Day.  Beach was the host of “Just Jazz,” a radio program which ran in New York City from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s.  The Library of Congress is home to the Edward Beach Collection, which consists of his broadcast …