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Posted by: Donna Sokol
In Custodia Legis will be on break for the upcoming holidays – Thursday, December 25 and Friday, December 26 (a holiday by executive order). We will be back next week – except on Thursday, January 1 – with some end-of-the-year posts! Just last week, the Library of Congress set up its annual holiday …
Posted in: Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
If you are planning a trip to Washington, D.C., to see the Magna Carta exhibition, may I suggest another stop on your itinerary? You’ve heard the phrase “hidden gem,” but the object I am sharing with you today truly takes that term to a new level. It is a Magna Carta replica tucked into the …
Posted in: Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
On August 8, the American Bar Association debuted the traveling exhibition, Magna Carta: Enduring Legacy 1215-2015, at their annual meeting in Boston. Nathan Dorn gave a “pop-up speech” at the conference’s expo to discuss how the narrative and images came together to tell the story of 800 years of Magna Carta. Law Librarian of Congress …
Posted in: Law Library, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
Today’s guest post is by Betty Lupinacci, supervisor in the Processing Section of the Law Library Collection Services Division. I can’t tell you how delighted I was to receive the object pictured above in the mail. The Collection Services Division has been trying to get hold of this elusive item, and it finally arrived! I was …
Posted in: Guest Post, Law Library, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
The National Constituent Assembly of Tunisia adopted its first democratic constitution on January 26, 2014. We were fortunate to recently acquire a copy of the new constitution of Tunisia. Not only did we acquire the volume for our collection, Dr. Mustapha Ben Jaafar (Mustafá Bin Ja’far), the president of the National Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, personally …
Posted in: Law Library, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
From November 6 through January 19, 2015, the Lincoln Cathedral Magna Carta, one of four remaining originals from 1215 will be on display along with other rare materials from the Library’s rich collections to tell the story of 800 years of its influence on the history of political liberty. Using your search engine of choice, do a …
Posted in: Law Library, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
In honor of National Poetry Month and the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, today’s Pic of the Week takes a look at a bas-relief that adorns the Folger Shakespeare Library (which is just a few steps away from the Library of Congress buildings). The bas-relief shows the court scene from The Merchant of Venice (Act 4, Scene I). Portia, the play’s heroine, …
Posted in: Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
Cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Congress is busy with budget hearings. All vehicles – no matter what color they were originally painted – are now yellow with pollen. It is spring in the nation’s capital. For the beauty of our immediate surroundings here on Capitol Hill, we must thank Frederick Law Olmsted (how can …
Posted in: Pic of the Week
Posted by: Donna Sokol
A humanist and generally recognized as an uomo universal [“Renaissance man”], Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) is known for his works in painting, sculpture, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, music, physics, philosophy, and cryptography. The writing of the mysterious Hypnerotomachia Poliphili has even been attributed to him. The Law Library recently acquired a compilation of his lesser-known works, simply titled …
Posted in: Collections, Pic of the Week