Today the Library of Congress, in conjunction with Sony Music Entertainment, launched a website – “the National Jukebox” – that streams 10,000 sound recordings from the historic Victor Records collection. It’s a fun and fascinating ramble for anyone who loves American music and wants to dig down into the roots of jazz, opera, a vast …
What can you say about an artist who directed and co-designed the sets for an opera about a guy whose nose detaches from his face and – well – runs off? Leora Maltz-Leca, a Library of Congress fellow of the Swann Foundation, which supports the arts of cartooning and caricature, will answer that question on …
Kay Ryan, the 16th Poet Laureate of the United States (2008-2010) and a person of wry wisdom, today won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Hear, hear! Specifically, the prize was for her book “The Best of It: New and Selected Poems” (Grove Press). The Pulitzer people described the book this way: “a body of work …
This guest post is by Photography Curator Carol Johnson of the Library of Congress. The sesquicentennial of the Civil War coincides with renewed interest in 3-D images for movies, cameras, and television. Although 3-D technology seems new, stereo photography first became popular around the time of the Civil War. In fact, many Civil War photographs …
This year’s selections for the National Recording Registry were announced today — the ninth annual addition to a list now totaling 325 recordings deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant and worthy of preservation for all time. According to the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, the Librarian of Congress – with input from the Library’s …
Heads up, all you hawk-followers out there – “Shirley,” the Cooper’s hawk who spent several days in the dome cupola of the Library of Congress Main Reading Room recently, was released into the wild at about 11 a.m. Tuesday in Virginia’s Sky Meadows State Park. When the bird was taken from its carrier by Linda …
Word’s going out today that the National Book Festival, heading into its 11th year on the National Mall, will be a two-day event for 2011. The festival will take place on the National Mall, from 9th Street to 14th Street, on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 25 …