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Category: Visual & Performing Arts

Highlights from the Kluge Center’s 2023 Events

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

In 2023, the John W. Kluge Center continued its work bringing scholars, writers, and lawmakers to the Library of Congress for public programming that informs, entertains, and shines a spotlight on the collections of the Library. With 2023 behind us, we’ve collected some of our favorite events we’ve hosted in the last year, all available …

Rediscovering Murasaki Ayami: Vogue’s First Asian Author

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

Bela Kellogg is a 2023 Kluge summer intern, where she worked with editor Andrew Breiner and scholar in residence Samira Spatzek. She is currently pursuing a B.A. in English and history of art from the University of Michigan. In addition to being a member of the La Jolla Historical Society’s Historic Preservation Committee, Bela is …

The Materiality of Thought (or How to Read Minds for Fun and Profit)

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

This is a guest post by Arts and Humanities Research Council Fellow Stuart Nolan, of Lancaster University in the UK. His research at the Kluge Center looks at the influence of New Thought on theatrical mentalism. Reading through the scrapbook of newspaper reports of the public appearances of the thought-reader John Randall Brown, in the …

A Movie Mystery at the Kluge Center

Posted by: Sophia Zahner

It started with a sneeze, or so we thought. Since the 1950s, film historians counted “The Sneeze” from 1894 as the earliest surviving film copyrighted in the United States. At this time, the film began being shown as a motion picture after being copied back to film from a photograph. Claudy Op den Kamp, a …

Image of Steve Swayne

Steve Swayne Joins John W. Kluge Center as Chair in Modern Culture

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Swayne as Chair in Modern Culture. Swayne, who began his residency in March, is working with the Library’s David Diamond Collection to produce a book on the life and work of the influential 20th century American composer. …

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

Thérèse Bonney: Curator, Photographer, Syndicator, Spy

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

This is a guest post by Kluge Center Research Assistant Sophia Zahner, an interview with 2021 Kluge Fellow Caroline Riley. Riley is also a Research Associate at the University of California, Davis. Sophia Zahner: How did you become interested in the photography of Thérèse Bonney? How does it relate to your other research projects? Caroline …

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

Our Common Purpose: The Complete Collection

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

In June 2020, the Kluge Center announced Danielle Allen as the winner of the Kluge Prize, launching the Our Common Purpose Campaign for Civic Strength at the Library of Congress. Allen hosted a series of exciting conversations at the Library to explore the nation’s civic life and ways that people from all political beliefs and …

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

Visualizing “Our Common Purpose”

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

This is a guest post by Lee Ann Potter, Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at  the Library of Congress Center for Learning, Literacy, & Engagement. “Our Common Purpose—A Campaign for Civic Strength at the Library of Congress,” a wealth of activities at the Library this spring. The theme, chosen by Danielle Allen, winner …

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

Nahuatl Passion Plays in the Colonial Era: An Interview With Louise Burkhart

Posted by: Andrew Breiner

Louise M. Burkhart is Professor of Anthropology at the State University of New York at Albany as well as Jay I. Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas at the John W. Kluge Center. Andrew Breiner: Could you start by telling me a little about your background and …