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Posted by: Taru Spiegel
Three early Baltic German printers and their descendants made publishing a family trade in lands of today’s Latvia, i.e., the Steffenhagens, Hartknochs and the Kymmels.
Posted in: European Reading Room
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
This blogpost introduces Persian calligraphic styles: Ta'liq, Shikastah, and Nasta'liq. This is the second installment of a three-part series that examines the various styles of Arabic calligraphy used in the Arab and Islamic world. The Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Calligraphy collection is housed in the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress.
Posted in: African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED), Near East Section
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
Allegedly created by astronomer-astrologers in the Tang dynasty (618-907), the book of prophecies known as “Tui bei tu” 推背圖 (“Back-pushing Pictures”) is the most renowned work of Chinese mysticism.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
The Hispanic Reading Room of the Library of Congress launches The PALABRA Indigenous Voices Project, a new initiative to increase the presence of Indigenous poetry and literature in the historic PALABRA Archive. Through partnerships with scholars and organizations with direct access to Indigenous communities around Latin America, curators hope to shine a light on a formerly under-represented group in this collection.
Posted in: Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape, Hispanic Americans, Hispanic Reading Room, National Poetry Month, Native American History, Native Americans, PALABRA Archive
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
In the 18th and 19th centuries, ships carried health certificates to reassure local officials that the places they came from were free of contagion. These filled a function something like the “vaccine passports” or “immunity passports” that are under discussion today because of Covid-19.
Posted in: European Reading Room, Hispanic Reading Room
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
If These Walls Could Talk is a Story Map that recreates the experience of walking into the Hispanic Reading Room where four gigantic, richly colored murals by the Brazilian artist Cândido Portinari welcome visitors to the Library of Congress.
Posted in: Hispanic Americans, Hispanic Reading Room, Latin America