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Archive: 2012 (118 Posts)

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The National Book Festival – Be There, Sept. 22-23

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

Heads up, all you fans of the Library of Congress National Book Festival – it’s going to be two days again this year, with more than 100 authors, following last year’s successful launch of the full-weekend approach. The festival will be held on the National Mall between 9th and 14th Streets on Saturday, Sept. 22, …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Today in History: U.S. Enters World War I

Posted by: Erin Allen

From time to time, I’d like to blog about notable historical events or otherwise interesting advents in our nation’s past, courtesy of Today in History, which mines the American Memory collections to discover what happened in our nation’s history on each date throughout the year. Today’s “TIH” marks the day in 1917 the United States …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Read Poets Society

Posted by: Erin Allen

April marks National Poetry Month, a time for poets and lovers of poetry everywhere to unite, recite and delight in the art and in those who have created it. The annual commemoration was inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. Some of my favorite poets include Byron, Tennyson, Yeats and Neruda. And I …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

See It Now: A Bully President

Posted by: Erin Allen

A Nobel prizewinner, a paleontologist, a taxidermist, an ornithologist, a field naturalist, a conservationist, a big-game hunter, a naval historian, a biographer, an essayist, an editor, a critic, an orator, a civil-service reformer, a socialite, a patron of the arts, a colonel of the cavalry, a ranchman … the list goes on. Add to that …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Year of the Girl

Posted by: Erin Allen

I have a pack of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies in my freezer. I treat myself to one or two occasionally, although it’s hard limiting myself since you really can’t eat just a couple. I can’t buy Samoas anymore because I won’t stop until I eat the whole box. While we may be enjoying the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Full of Hot Air

Posted by: Erin Allen

A bat in the belfry? Maybe. A tree growing in Brooklyn? Sure. A light in the attic? Of course. But, a dirigible in the Library’s Jefferson Building? It happened. Walking the institution’s resplendent halls, you come across lovely murals, elaborate ornamentation, gilded embellishments, and, as it turned out the other day, two rather large balloons …