Tonight the 2012 Olympics in London kick off. The excitement has certainly been building all year as enthusiasts have followed the torch relay and participating athletes and teams. I can admit that the games probably appeal to me for a few other different reasons than purely anticipating all the awesome competition. First, my favorite band, …
If someone set a bowl of cheese curls in front of you and declared it “breakfast,” would you be able to discern it from cereal? Even if you’re the type who likes cold pizza at 7 a.m., odds are you would not be too quick to pour on the milk and dive in with a …
“Look before you leap.” “Do not believe everything you hear.” “A kindness is never wasted.” “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” “You are judged by the company you keep.” Sound familiar? Sage advice given to you at one time or another likely by your parents or other loved ones, right? I know I can hear …
Today, on what would have been Amelia Earhart’s 115th birthday, news reports are trending about a recent expedition to discover what truly happened to the famed aviator on July 2, 1937, when she and Fred Noonan mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. A $2.2 million expedition that hoped to find wreckage from the famed aviator’s …
Here’s a roundup of what’s been going on in the Library of Congress blogosphere in June. In the Muse: Performing Arts Blog “How to Find Your Snooky Ookums: A Guide to the Irving Berlin Collection” Pat Padua presents a guide to the Irving Berlin Collection. The Signal: Digital Preservation “Every Format on the Face of …
If Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy – the creator of the much-loved Violin Concerto in E Minor, the “Italian Symphony” and “The Hebrides,” aka “Fingal’s Cave” – hadn’t made it so big as a composer, we might well be remembering him today as an artist. Who knew? You can listen to the Wedding March from the incidental …
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, one of the leading scholars and practitioners of political economy in recent Latin American history, received the 2012 John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity in a special ceremony Tuesday at the Library of Congress. “I feel honored, and humbled, to receive this most prestigious prize. I …
June marked a pretty busy time here at the Library of Congress with some big-ticket announcements. From naming a new Poet Laureate and pivotal books in America’s history to recent collection acquisitions, the institution was making regular headlines. In announcing Mississippi native and Pulitzer Prize-winning Natasha Trethewey as Poet Laureate, Librarian of Congress James H. …
Happy Fourth of July! Today in 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring freedom of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. The Library is home to the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. A couple of years ago, thanks to the work of the Library of Congress’ Preservation Research and Testing …