In a historic neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky, not far from the University of Kentucky, sits a house with a special connection to the U.S. Capitol Building. The house was designed by Benjamin Latrobe, the Second Architect of the Capitol. Latrobe was hired by Thomas Jefferson to work on the Capitol, and after it was damaged […]
This week’s interview is with Rick Fitzgerald, a Librarian in the Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate of the Library of Congress. I grew up in Sparta, New Jersey, and moved to Arizona in 1994, where I lived on and off for nine years. I have also lived overseas for brief periods – in the Netherlands and […]
“…one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season…”–Edgar Allan Poe “The Cask of Amontillado” Although Americans do not have a monopoly on Carnival, when we think of Mardi Gras, New Orleans inevitably comes to mind. Given the volume of visitors and events that take place in the city during this season, it is no surprise […]
The recent passing of Senator Inouye [D-HI] led to a discussion among some friends about who can lie in state in the Capitol. I asked the Law Library’s instructional librarian, Pam Craig, whether it took an act of Congress to permit this. And indeed it does. To allow the Capitol’s rotunda to be used for […]
The following is a guest post by Laney Zhang, our Chinese law specialist at the Law Library of Congress. Laney has previously written posts for In Custodia Legis about pandas, trains and corruption, and Chinese supreme court clothing. Earlier this week she wrote Crouching Tiger, Hidden Author. My favorite traditional Chinese holiday is coming next week! Yes, […]
Like many people, I have always enjoyed being scared—just a little—not with chainsaws and blood but a contest of wits between the archetypal vampire Dracula and his human opponents. Dracula of course is not the first fictional vampire. John Polidori, physician to Lord Byron, and Sheridan LeFanu both wrote short stories about vampires in the […]
“Each of us has a crouching tiger deep in the heart.” This is what internationally-acclaimed Taiwanese director Ang Lee told a Chinese journalist, Chai Jing, in a recent interview about his latest film, Life of Pi. The crouching tiger is Lee’s metaphor for the inner power driving him in his continuous efforts to try “thrilling” […]
The following is a guest post is by Melanie Polutta, Librarian Cataloger in the Iberia/Rio Section of the African, Latin American, and Western European Division of the Library of Congress. A while ago, I wrote an article in the LCCN that described how Carolyn Keene, the author of the Nancy Drew series, was not actually a person, but rather […]
On a recent drive back to DC from Indiana, I made a detour through Pittsburgh. I love to stop and visit the city where I went to law school. During the visit, I snapped this picture of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law surrounded by a blanket of snow. The Barco Law Library occupies the top three floors of […]