The United States has often been called “a nation of joiners.” For nearly three centuries, Americans have created and joined voluntary associations to pursue their shared goals and to meet the needs of their communities. Even today, voluntary associations are ubiquitous in American society, occupying a central place in the social and communal lives of …
Today is the 806th anniversary of the day King John of England committed to undertake the reforms that were enumerated in Magna Carta. King John granted Magna Carta to his barons on June 15, 1215, in order to halt their rebellion and to regain their support for his leadership. While Magna Carta was a document …
On January 28, 2021, Foreign Law Specialist Nicolas Boring discussed the Napoleonic Code’s history, evolution, and legacy in an installment of the Law Library of Congress’ foreign and comparative law webinar series. The webinar discussed the prehistory of the French Civil Code, its drafting and adoption, its contents, and the history of its immense influence …
On Monday, I had the pleasure of assembling a display of rare books for guests attending the 2017 Burton Awards ceremony held at the Library of Congress. Created by Williams C. Burton, the awards acknowledge, celebrate, and reward outstanding achievements in the legal field, including for legal writing, regulatory reform and public service. The display …
The first English language publication to mention the Jewish Ghetto of Venice was a travelogue that appeared in 1611 under the unlikely title Crudities. Below is an image of that edition’s title page: The central text on the page reads: “Coryats Crudities: hastily gobled up in five moneths trauells in France, Sauoy, Italy, Rhetia com[m]only called …
This is a guest post by Patience Tyne. Patience is working in the Collection Services Division of the Law Library of Congress as part of the Library of Congress’s Junior Fellows Program. The program’s focus is to increase access to our collections for our various patron groups. The project that I am working on in …
In anticipation of the Library’s upcoming program, “La Città degli Ebrei/The City of the Jews: Segregated Space and the Admission of Strangers in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice,” – a conference held in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy and the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland to …
One of the keepsakes given at the Library of Congress’s pre-inaugural black-tie gala for the ongoing Magna Carta exhibition was the commemorative coin depicted below. The coin’s obverse shows the name of the exhibition, Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor. Its reverse shows a reproduction of a medallion that appears on the title page of a 1774 imprint of …
Today’s pic of the week highlights an item from our collection that finds itself in the spotlight very often, whether as part of a display in one of the Library of Congress’s many fascinating public exhibitions, or as a quasi-sacred book in the swearing-in ceremony of public officials. It is also one of my favorite …