When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. (Matthew 2:1-10) During a recent staff meeting, I asked my colleagues for …
By all that is sacred in our hopes for the human race, I conjure those who love happiness and truth to give a fair trial to the vegetable system- Percy Bysshe Shelley. When I asked our culinary specialist, Alison Kelly, for advice for a Thanksgiving blog post she eagerly shared with me The Vegetarian Thanksgiving …
In 1378, Richard II issued an ordinance controlling pie prices in London. Even Geoffrey Chaucer mentions pie in the Cook's Tale of his Canterbury Tales
Today’s post is from science reference librarian Margaret Clifton. She is also the author of Stars in his Eyes and Sun Spots this Summer. She has created the LC Science Tracer Bullet on Time , which will be helpful to those who are interested in horology (art and science of measuring time). Daylight Saving Time (DST) in this country ends this year (2011) …
INSIDE ADAMS IS TURNING TWO! When we launched Inside Adams on October 30, 2009 we became the second official Library of Congress blog- the first was the LC Blog (launched April 2007). In the two years since we published our first post “…Never be afraid of a book,” the Library has added 5 more official blogs to …
Artist Lee Lawrie’s figures on the Adams Building bronze doors provide us with an opportunity to highlight important mythical and heroic figures that helped promote the written word. For Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month we highlighted the figure of Brahma. It seems only fitting that for Hispanic Heritage Month we feature the bronze image of the …
Did you know that the food and the word chocolate (choolatl/ xocolātl) originated from Mesoamerica (part of Mexico and Central America)? The Aztecs and the Mayans were some of the first people to consume chocolate, mostly in beverage form, for medicinal and religious purposes. In fact, many foods we consume today, like avocados, chilies, corn, …
Will Lieut. Gen. Scott please see Professor Lowe once more about his balloon? This quote comes from a note that President Lincoln wrote to General Scott on July 25, 1861. Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe (Prof. T.S.C. Lowe) was an expert balloonist and would become the Chief Aeronaut for the United States Government during the Civil …