Top of page

Category: History

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Law, Religion, and Liberty: A Conversation with John Witte, Jr.

Posted by: Dan Turello

Members of the Scholars Council are appointed by the Librarian of Congress to advise on matters related to scholarship at the Library, with special attention to the Kluge Center and the Kluge Prize. The Council includes distinguished scholars, writers, researchers, and scientists. “Insights” is featuring some of the work of this highly-accomplished group of thinkers. …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Profiles in Leadership: Statesmen Who Made Breakthroughs for Peace and Security

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

As the 2015-2016 Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress, political scientist Bruce Jentleson is writing and researching a new book on transformational leaders of the 20th century who made major breakthroughs for peace and security — and what lessons may exist for the 21st century. He …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

EU Month of Culture Spotlight: Poland

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

As part of this year’s European Month of Culture, we focus on scholars from European Union member states who have conducted research at the Library of Congress Kluge Center. Wish to apply for a fellowship at the Library? Applications are now being accepted for Kluge Fellowships. Scholars worldwide who have earned a terminal advanced degree …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Emer Vattel and His Influence on Early America

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

Emer Vattel’s “Law of Nations” (1758) remained overdue on President George Washington’s library account until it was returned in 2010 with a waived fee of $300,000. As a Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress, historian Theo Christov has researched the influence of Vattel’s work on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the early …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

EU Month of Culture Spotlight: Cyprus

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

As part of the European Month of Culture in May 2016, we focus on scholars from European Union member states who have conducted research at The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. Wish to apply for a fellowship at the Library? Applications are now being accepted for Kluge Fellowships. Scholars worldwide who …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

For Women’s History Month 2016

Posted by: Mary Lou Reker

This blog is written in recognition of Women’s History Month, which in the U.S. is celebrated during March. For over two hundred years, the Library of Congress, the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, has been gathering materials necessary to tell the stories of women in America and around the world. Library staff …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Richmond Pearson Hobson and the War Against Heroin

Posted by: Mary Lou Reker

The following is a guest post by Joe Thorogood, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography at University College London and a current Economic and Social Research Council Fellow at The John W. Kluge Center. Harry Anslinger was once America’s most prolific drug authority. From 1931-1963, Anslinger was head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Thinking Back on a Productive Residency

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

The following is a guest post by Levon Avdoyan, Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist in the Library of Congress African and Middle Eastern Division. As Jason Steinhauer mentioned in his recent blog post about studying the Middle East at the Library of Congress, the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division is among the most important …

Sweeping view from the floor of a great room, looking upwards past marble columns and arches to a grand golden-colored dome

Three Lectures for Black History Month

Posted by: Jason Steinhauer

February is Black History Month, and three past lectures at the Kluge Center focus on lesser known aspects of African American history in the U.S. and Britain. In 2009, Kluge Fellow Srividhya Swaminathan examined the dialogue between British pro-slavery and anti-slavery activists in the later part of the 18th century. Swaminathan wondered how slavery became …