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Posted by: Ellen Terrell
Hardware Dealers' Magazine was originally intended for hardware dealers and features ads and articles targeting store owners. Today it is a useful tool for researching the history of retail and hardware stores and the items they sold at the turn of the 20th century.
Posted in: Business, Favorites From the Fifth Floor
Posted by: Nate Smith
Join the Library of Congress Science Section on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 2 p.m. (Eastern Time), for a virtual conversation with author, science communicator and past Kluge Chair in Science and Society, Ainissa Ramirez, about her new children’s picture book, “Spark: Jim West’s Electrifying Adventures in Creating the Microphone” (Candlewick Press, 2025).
Posted in: African American History, African Americans, Biography, History of Science and Technology, Inventions, Lunchtime Lectures and Videos, Science
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
A look at a selection of cookbooks the Library of Congress digitized in 2025, including – a couple of community cookbooks, a 1928 Girl Scout camp and trail guide, an early Chinese-American recipe book and a book on candy-making.
Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Science
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
Prior to 1930’s, the chocolate chip cookie, we know and love today, did not exist. The Library of Congress has a copy of Ruth Wakefield’s 1938 “Toll House Tried and True Recipes” (New York, M. Barrows and Company) that contains what food historians consider the first published chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Science
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
In December, with Christmas cards and annual family update letters keeping mail carriers busy, it seems like a good time to look at the envelope.
Posted in: Business
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
In trying to make distinct and unique names, the scientific world relies on a system of binomial nomenclature, or two-word names, to bring order and standardization to the naming of species. Still, even in this restrictive world, scientists have found many opportunities for fun. If anyone could take this appearance-of-nonsense and use it to full effect, it would be artist and poet Edward Lear, the grandfather of nonsense. In several of his nonsense books, he created charming sketches of made-up plants, with matching scientific names that were every bit as silly as the drawings.
Posted by: Natalie Burclaff
Did you know that insurance companies get rated on their financial strength? The Library of Congress holds a wide range of insurance ratings guides from various agencies going back to the 19th century.
Posted in: Business, Business Reference Guides
Posted by: Ellen Terrell
In 1876, human hair imports to the United States were valued at $4.5 million in today’s dollars. Where did all this hair come from and what was it used for? We investigate the hair industry and Library of Congress resources relevant to trade data, including our new research guide on international economics and trade.
Posted in: Business
Posted by: Jennifer Harbster
The quintessentially American holiday, Thanksgiving evokes images of vast dinner spreads, centered on turkey, and as we cook and bake, prepare and labor on these elaborate feasts, who has time to think about breakfast? Well, some cook book authors in the 1900s didn’t forget breakfast when they shared their Thanksgiving day menus.
Posted in: Cookbooks and Food, Heritage Months, Holidays, and Today in History