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Posted by: Matt Raymond
Quite often I have to “sit on” very exciting news here until all the details are put into place, and whatever we’re going to announce is ready for prime-time. Such is the case with the new version of our Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC, pronounced “P-pock”), which has launched within the past few days. …
Posted in: Cataloging, Collections, Curators, History, LC Web site, News, Photos, Social Media, Technology
Posted by: Matt Raymond
The Library is a place of superlatives–the biggest this, the first that–and now we’ve added another one to the list that will be a great benefit to patrons in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room (and off-site). This week Mark Sweeney, chief of the Serial and Government Publications Division, along with assistant chief Teri …
Posted in: Collections, News, Newspapers, Technology
Posted by: Matt Raymond
(The following is a guest post by my colleague Donna Urschel.) Did you ever wonder how the literary giants create their work? Does it just pour out of them effortlessly? Or is there some sort of magic trick? On April 1, master poet Kay Ryan, the 16th Poet Laureate of the United States, will provide …
Posted by: Matt Raymond
Top o’ the Morning to you! Even though I’m only one-quarter Irish, millions of folks, even those without a drop of Irish blood, are celebrating the wearing o’ the green today. Our Prints and Photographs Division decided to mark the day by putting out a call to picture-lovers to post “now” images of locations in …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Matt Raymond
Most musicians probably would be satisfied during a performance with a single standing ovation. But at a rousing concert Tuesday in the Coolidge Auditorium, the crowd leapt to their feet in applause no less than four times for a half dozen of country music’s most popular and influential stars—and even surprise “guest performer” Librarian of …
Posted by: Matt Raymond
Ever wonder what goes on before an exhibition is mounted and displayed? My colleague Donna Urschel takes an in-depth look at the preservation steps that were required for the Library’s “Herblock!” exhibition, on display through May 1: Preserving ‘Herblock’ a Rewarding Job for Conservators by Donna Urschel Shortly after the famous Washington Post political cartoonist …
Posted in: Collections, Curators, Exhibitions, News, Preservation
Posted by: Matt Raymond
Even for many of those who might yawn their way through the gridiron action on Sunday between New Orleans and Indianapolis, they will perk right up and stare intently at the screen during the station breaks. Super Bowl commercials have become something of an event of their own, alongside the actual game. The Inside Adams …
Posted in: Collections, Curators, Education, Events, History
Posted by: Matt Raymond
(The following is a guest article about new preservation capabilities at the LOC by my colleague Donna Urschel, which was recently published in the the Library’s staff newsletter, the Gazette.) For many decades, details of the 1791 Pierre L’Enfant Plan of Washington, D.C.—one of the many treasures at the Library of Congress—had been obscured. A …
Posted in: Collections, Manuscripts, Maps, Preservation, Science, Technology
Posted by: Matt Raymond
In 1867, the American West was still very much wild. It was into that new frontier that a young photographer named Timothy O’Sullivan ventured to provide a visual record of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, led by Clarence King. As much a PR effort to encourage settlement of the West as it was …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, Exhibitions, History, Photos