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Posted by: Margaret Wood
This is a guest post by William Mahannah, an Assistant Reference Librarian in the Public Services Division. The Law Library of Congress, holding the world’s largest legal collection, receives a large volume of inquiries from patrons throughout the world. One might be surprised to learn that a continuous volume of request letters come from prisoners confined …
Posted in: Guest Post, Law Library
Posted by: Margaret Wood
March is Women’s History Month. This year, March has also seen the Centennial of the 1913 Suffrage March, and International Women’s Day. Women’s History Month was established in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 to establish Women’s History Week. Both this law and the subsequent Presidential Proclamation 4903 speak to the important role women played …
Posted in: Congress, Education, In the News
Posted by: Margaret Wood
As a graduate of Oberlin College, I have always been proud that when Oberlin was established in 1833, it was the first co-educational college in the country, admitting both men and women. However, it did not initially admit men and women on the same terms: women were not admitted to the baccalaureate program until 1837. …
Posted in: In the News, Law Library
Posted by: Margaret Wood
In 1796, towards the end of his second term, President Washington wrote a letter to the “People of the United States” in which he announced that he would not be seeking a third term. This letter to the nation was originally published in the American Daily Advertiser and then in other papers throughout the country but …
Posted in: Congress, Education, Law Library
Posted by: Margaret Wood
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 …
Posted in: Collections, Law Library
Posted by: Margaret Wood
I had an interesting query a few months ago from a patron about a proposed constitutional amendment which the patron believed President Lincoln had signed. This was unusual in itself since Article V of the U.S. Constitution does not require presidents to sign constitutional amendments passed by Congress. The key to this query was the date …
Posted in: Congress