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Moving on…. Moving up

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

I am excited to share that I will be moving to a new position here at the Library working primarily with our electronic resources – of which we have many! If you have not had the opportunity to explore the electronic resources available to you on-site here at the Library, please take a look.  These …

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Welcome Law Librarians!

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

In case you haven’t noticed, there is a new blog in town.  We would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Law Librarians to the Library of Congress blog space! In many ways there is a strong relationship between business and law.  We often have visitors in our reading room conducting research for starting …

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Americans with Disabilities Act 20th Anniversary

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

Our guest author today is Ellen Terrell, Business Reference Specialist. According to the U.S. Census in their report Americans with Disabilities: 2005, there are roughly 54 million Americans with a disability. 11 million people age 6 and older need personal assistance with everyday activities and 46% of the people ages 21 to 64 having some …

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Disneyland

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA on this date in 1955.  Having worked for The Walt Disney Company at various points in my career, I have a special fondness for all things Disney. A recent vacation took me to Germany where I was able to visit Neuschwanstein, a castle that was “a tremendous inspiration to Walt …

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“Resolved, That the money unit of the United States of America be one dollar.”

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

On today’s date in 1785 the Continental Congress set the dollar as the official currency of the new United States. Also on this date it was Resolved “That the several pieces shall increase in a decimal ratio.” As a side note Thomas Jefferson wrote on this very topic in “Notes on the establisment[!] of a …

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Is there a pyrotechnic display in your future?

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

234 years ago the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain.  It has been estimated that there were approximately 2.5 million people in this new nation at that time. [1] Today a celebration of our independence takes place every year on the anniversary of the signing of …

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The Business of Congress

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

Our guest author today is Ellen Terrell, Business Reference Specialist. In a letter to Samuel H. Smith offering his collection to Congress to re-establish the Library after it was burned in 1814, Thomas Jefferson wrote “I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from this collection …

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Child Labor

Posted by: Donna Scanlon

Child labor in one form or another has existed in America from our beginning. As the country was mostly agricultural, much of the work involved a family’s farm, or in the case of slaves, on plantations. With the advent of industrialization that began to change. In the early part of the 20th century when the …