For ten weeks, the Library of Congress hosted a whirlwind of events and activities that surrounded the exhibition, Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor. Activities began the day before the exhibition opened when the Law Library of Congress hosted the Chief Justice of the United States, John G. Roberts, Jr., and the former chief justice of …
For me the Library of Congress exhibition, Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor, actually began on November 5th, a day before the exhibit was open to the public. Those of us who were fortunate enough to be docents for the exhibit had the privilege of meeting with Christopher Woods, director of the British National Conservation Service, …
The lecture delivered by Professor Ruth Mazo Karras, medievalist and chair of the Department of History at the University of Minnesota, was the fourth of the Law Library’s series of complementary lectures to the exhibition: “Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor.” The focus …
Armed with the extensive research on the background, content and effects of Magna Carta provided to docents, coupled with the “road map” provided by Nathan Dorn in his Gallery Talk, I have truly enjoyed giving tours of the Law Library’s Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor exhibit. None so much though as the one I gave …
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 …
Ruth Mazo Karras, professor and chair of the History Department at the University of Minnesota, will join the Law Library of Congress on Wednesday, January 14, 2015 for the next program in the Magna Carta Lecture Series, “Law in the Lives of Medieval Women: Beyond Magna Carta.” The lecture is scheduled to begin at 1:00 …
The following is an article written by Mark Hartsell, writer-editor for The Gazette, the Library of Congress staff newsletter. The legacy of Magna Carta, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer said, sometimes can be seen in the things that don’t happen. The court’s decision in Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), brought …
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 …
On Wednesday, I gave a gallery talk for the Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor Exhibition. I focused the talk around King John and his rapacious habits as a ruler: demanding extraordinary fees from his feudal vassals, seizing hostages, and losing battles. I also included some information on the Constitutions of Clarendon (more on that in …