Today’s interview is with Elizabeth Mansfield, a legislative data analyst in the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. Describe your background. I first began working in the information services industry during college as a technical services assistant in my university’s law library. In addition to a library degree, I have an advanced degree […]
This year, 2022, marks the 110th anniversary of New Mexico‘s admission to the United States (37 Stat. 39 (1912). However, New Mexico’s history goes back much further than the 110 years of its statehood. The state is full of parks, preserves, monuments, towns, and buildings that document its history. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, […]
Our picture of the week comes to us from the Library’s historical newspaper database, Chronicling America. It is an advertisement for a Carbolic Smoke Ball. You might ask – what is a Carbolic Smoke Ball and what does it have to do with law? A Carbolic Smoke Ball was a 19th century version of a […]
Today marks Yellowstone National Park’s 150th anniversary. On March 1, 1872, President Grant signed into law a statute creating Yellowstone, making it America’s first national park. To celebrate this occasion, we have compiled legislative materials related to the park, including 19th century survey reports of the Wyoming Territory, bill texts, debates and votes on the […]
Earlier this month, Andrew blogged about the addition to Congress.gov of the ability to browse House, Senate, and Joint Committee prints. With this release, we have enhanced the Legislative Tracker by adding information about what the Tracker is and providing the user with a direct link to the Legislative Process videos. Enhancements Enhancement – Mobile […]
This is a guest post by Jason Zarin, a legal reference specialist at the Law Library of Congress. On Friday, February 25, 2022, President Biden nominated federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer. Judge Jackson is currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for […]
We’ve all been asked the question, what do you want to be when you grow up? Last year, I attended a preschool graduation where four to five year olds were asked this very question. Their answers varied: a policeman, an ice cream truck driver, a teacher. Perhaps unsurprisingly, no one mentioned becoming a lawyer or […]
The following is a guest post by Johannah Ball, who served as a fall 2021 remote intern transcribing and researching documents in the Herencia: Centuries of Spanish Legal Documents crowdsourcing campaign at the Law Library of Congress. Herencia is a rich collection of Spanish government documents from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Many documents fit into definite […]
Today’s interview is with Friederike Loebbert, a foreign law intern working with Foreign Law Specialist Jenny Gesley in the Global Legal Research Directorate of the Law Library of Congress. Describe your background. I was born and raised in a city in Northern Germany called Lübeck, which has a magnificent old town and is close to the Baltic […]
Back in December, I posted a Pic of the Week featuring the lighting of the Washington Monument in Baltimore. In that post, I mentioned that the monument in Baltimore was the first public monument to honor George Washington, though the monument in Boonsboro, Maryland, was the first completed monument dedicated to the memory of Washington. Today, we […]