On Saturday, October 22, the Library of Congress hosted a Halloween Family Day, featuring Goosebumps author R.L. Stine and Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne discussing 30 years of their series.

Clay Smith, Library of Congress Literary Director, talks with R.L. Stine and Mary Pope Osborne in Coolidge Auditorium.
The Library’s Informal Learning Office also hosted spooky art and reading activities for families in the Jefferson Building before the author program. One featured Carol M. Highsmith’s photographs of painted Halloween pumpkins from the Prints and Photographs Division. Carol M. Highsmith has been donating her photography to the Library of Congress since 1992! Learn more about her life and work here.
One hundred and thirty participants voted for their favorite ghoulish gourds in the LOC pumpkin patch and the results are in! Click on each image below to learn more.
1st place

Giant decorated pumpkin representing Ursula the Sea Witch, a character in the movie The Little Mermaid, in the fishing and lobstering port of Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
2nd place

Crystal McLain’s painted 620-pound pumpkin at the annual Pumpkinfest, a colorful fall festival in Damariscotta, Maine.
3rd place

Glenn Chadbourne’s startling creation from a 1,683-pound pumpkin at the annual Pumpkinfest, a colorful fall festival in Damariscotta, Maine.
Thanks to everyone who attended the event and voted for a pumpkin. We look forward to seeing you again soon at the Library of Congress.
For more about R.L. Stine, Mary Pope Osborne or Halloween, explore these Library resources:
- Free to Use and Reuse: Autumn and Halloween | Free to Use and Reuse Sets | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
- R.L. Stine & the Legacy of Goosebumps | Library of Congress (loc.gov)
- Natalie Pope Boyce & Mary Pope Osborne: 2012 National Book Festival | Library of Congress (loc.gov)