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By: Pat Padua
With 2016 drawing to a close, anxious music fans may worry that a year that has taken away so many legends may yet give us one more reason to mourn. Starting with the death of Natalie Cole on New Year’s Day, dozens of artists who have provided the soundtracks of our lives died this year. …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Anne Holmes
A new year is upon us, which brings with it reflections on the year behind us. We at the PLC thank you, our readers and audiences, for a literary year to remember, and offer you best wishes for the year to come. And now, the inevitable question: How will you be ringing in the new …
Posted in: From the Catbird Seat
By: Peter Armenti
The following guest post, part of our “Teacher’s Corner” series, is by Rebecca Newland, a Fairfax County Public Schools Librarian and former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress. If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, why not use photographs to prompt poetry? First select engaging photographs from the collections of the …
Posted in: From the Catbird Seat
By: David Plylar
This post has been modified from an article originally written by Nicholas A. Brown. Tickets for winter and spring Concerts from the Library of Congress events, presented by the Music Division, will be released to the public on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. via Eventbrite. All concerts, films and lectures are free but require advance …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Betty Lupinacci
On January 30, 2016, Mexico News Daily printed an article stating that President Enrique Peña Nieto had officially announced that what had been the Federal District would now be known as Mexico City. So why does that matter to the Law Library’s Collection Services Division? Looking at two consecutive issues of the gazette for …
Posted in: In Custodia Legis
By: Erin Allen
(The following guest post is by John Van Oudenaren, director for scholarly and educational programs at the Library of Congress.) By the time the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the European powers had been fighting for more than two-and-a-half years. U.S. troops joined their British, French and Belgian allies in battles …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Peter Armenti
When I was a child my family would gather each year at my aunt’s house on Christmas Eve for a night of festivities and merriment. And each year, far and away my favorite activity was our traditional singing of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Each of us would draw one of the twelve days from …
Posted in: From the Catbird Seat
By: Cait Miller
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is one of the most popular Christmas carols we hear during the holidays, and one with an especially interesting history involving four creative minds over the span of two centuries. While the history is well documented, source materials in the Library of Congress’s collections provide engaging illustrations detailing the evolution …
Posted in: In The Muse
By: Elin Hofverberg
December 2, 2016, marked the 250th anniversary of the first Swedish Freedom of the Press Act, which has been regarded as the world’s first statute related to freedom of the press. The Act abolished censorship and specifically provided a right for Swedish citizens to access government archives. It was therefore also the first act to establish …
Posted in: In Custodia Legis
By: Erin Allen
The holidays are full of many traditions – gift giving, sending cards, singing and cooking. Also kissing. If ever there was a time to pucker up, it’s in December, underneath the mistletoe. Washington Irving wrote in the 1800s, “young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under [mistletoe], plucking each time a berry from …
Posted in: Timeless