My Journey of Language Learning: French
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
A summer intern in the European Reading Room of the Library of Congress describes the benefits of studying French and recommends some favorite books.
Posted in: European Reading Room
Category: European Reading Room
The Franco-American Revolution – Part 2
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
This blogpost looks at the important French role in the American Revolution. Part 2 focuses on the French land and naval forces that assisted the U.S. in combating the British military. French ships engaged British vessels almost immediately after Britain declared war on France in March of 1778.
Posted in: European Reading Room
International Reading Rooms Open for Researcher Appointments Starting July 12, 2021
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
Starting July 12, the Library will reopen four additional reading rooms – African & Middle Eastern, Asian, European, and Hispanic – for a limited number of registered readers by appointment only. This blog will guide you through the process of making advance appointments.
Posted in: African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED), Asian Division, European Reading Room, Hispanic Reading Room
The Franco-American Revolution – Part 1
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
The French played an indispensable role in the American Revolution in the key areas of financial aid and supplies, the French land forces and fleet, and global French military engagements that diverted British resources from North America.
Posted in: European Reading Room
From Photographer to Printmaker: Prokudin-Gorskii’s “artistic-photomechanical” illustrations for Gogol’s folk stories
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
In examining an early 20th-century edition of a book of stories by Russian author Nikolai Gogol, a Library of Congress cataloger recognized another familiar name. The full-page, sepia-colored art illustrations in the book were printed by Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii, better known as an early innovator in color photography. The book’s past ownership invites further investigation.
Posted in: European Reading Room
Early Baltic German Printers in the Lands of Present-Day Latvia
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
Ravens, Lemons, and Peste: 19th-Century Maritime Health Certificates in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
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
A Cup of Tea with Trans-Siberian Railway Postcards
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
The Tsine-Louine tea company’s postcard series (1899-1904) displays scenes from the company’s trading route along the new Trans-Siberian railroad, highlighting the intersection of trade and the further incorporation of Siberia into the Russian empire through the railroad.
Posted in: European Reading Room
“The Maid of Pskov:” Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s First Opera
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
The famous Russian composer, Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), wrote a number of operas. The Library of Congress has a copy of his first opera, “The Maid of Pskov,” in an 1892 edition that originally belonged to the Russian imperial family, the Romanovs.
Posted in: European Reading Room