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Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Ninety-six years ago today, a riot broke out among audience members witnessing the premiere of a piece that changed classical-music history. The composer, Igor Stravinsky, was horrified; the impresario, Serge Diaghilev, was delighted. Feelings ran high at the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris that night, from the very opening bars of Stravinsky’s ballet “The …
Posted in: Collections, Exhibitions, Music, Today in History
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Both the President and the First Lady will be Honorary Chairs of the 2009 National Book Festival, to be held Saturday, Sept. 26 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. between 7th and 14th Streets, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., rain or shine. This colossal event, heading into its ninth year, lets book-lovers hear …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Events, National Book Festival, Poetry, Social Media, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Memorial Day is upon us again, a time to reflect on American veterans — men and women who sacrificed their lives for our nation. The Veterans History Project (VHP), an oral history program of the Library’s American Folklife Center, was created by Congress in 2000 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the first-hand recollections of …
Posted in: American Folklife Center, History, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
The Library’s Prints & Photographs Division today is offering a new twist on the Library’s Flickr site in The Commons — a clickable list of favorites from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information collections, under the heading “FSA/OWI Favorites.” There will be 10 “most-requested” photos from these Library collections, including the iconic …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Matt Raymond
The U.S. federal government has joined several of the departments and agencies under its vast umbrella, including the Library of Congress, that have channels on YouTube. The site aggregates other channels from across the government and features select video content. The channel is broken down into handy playlists by topic such as Health and Nutrition, …
Posted in: News, Social Media, Video
Posted by: Matt Raymond
I thought I would pass along a statistic that has been floating about for the past couple of days: Our total number of visitors from January to April 2009 increased a whopping 69 percent over 2007! (We’re comparing against 2007 because the same period in 2008 had too many variables, including an extended building closure …
Posted in: New Visitors Experience, News, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Matt Raymond
Longtime visitors to our home page (and we love LOC.gov groupies!) will notice a couple of new features today: First, we’re now highlighting the new World Digital Library partnership in our featured “marquee” at the top of the page. The WDL partnership among the Library, UNESCO and organizations and institutions around the world brings together …
Posted in: Collections, LC Web site, News
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
It’s not unusual, today, for a song from Broadway or other popular music to be given new lyrics, usually for the purpose of a send-up or satire. So it’s noteworthy that our national anthem — yes, “The Star-Spangled Banner” — actually was an application of more serious lyrics to a tune associated with a drinking …
Posted in: Exhibitions, Music
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
This morning at the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C., about 150 folks got a cultural and environmental treat, hearing several young poets and seeing the work of young artists who were winners and finalists in this year’s “River of Words” competition. 2009 marks the 14th year the program, co-founded by former U. S. …