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Archive: April 2014 (18 Posts)

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

National Recording Registry: Open to Your Nominations

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post by Steve Leggett, program coordinator for the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.) In the weeks since announcing the annual 25 additions to the National Recording Registry the Library has been asked a few questions about rap and hip-hop and its representation on the list. These …

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

A Journey to the Northwest Frontier in 1783: The Journal of George McCully

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post by Julie Miller, early American specialist in the Manuscript Division.) People who visit the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress often ask where our collections come from. Sometimes the answers are surprising. This is true for a journal kept in 1783 by a Revolutionary War veteran from Pennsylvania …

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

214 Years Young

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Library of Congress celebrates its 214th birthday today. Founded on April 24, 1800, thanks to an appropriation approved by Pres. John Adams of $5,000 for the purchase of “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.” What started with a whopping 740 books and three maps has evolved to more than …

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

WDL Marks 5 Years of Sharing Cultural Treasures with Globe

Posted by: Erin Allen

The idea was as big as the planet itself: Gather and digitize the globe’s  cultural treasures, assemble them  on one website and make them available to the world for free and in multiple languages. Such a project, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in proposing it, would bring people together by “celebrating the uniqueness …

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

Adiós, Gabo

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

One of the most popular features in the Library of Congress Pavilion at the Library’s National Book Festival is a whiteboard on which you can write the name of a book.  Some years we ask for your favorite book.  Some years we ask what book shaped the world.  People stand a few feet back, ponder, …

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

Letter to the Editor

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post by Barbara Bair, historian in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.) While life posed many setbacks for Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919), he proved himself a man who met challenges and seized his opportunities. When it came to the Spanish American War in 1898, Roosevelt carefully devised public acclaim as a …

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

E.L. Doctorow Awarded American Fiction Prize

Posted by: Erin Allen

E. L. Doctorow, author of such critically acclaimed novels as “Ragtime,” “World’s Fair,” “Billy Bathgate,” “The March” and his current novel, “Andrew’s Brain,” is the second recipient of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. He will receive the award during this year’s National Book Festival, scheduled for Aug. 30 at the Walter E. Washington …

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

Experts’ Corner: Image Researching

Posted by: Erin Allen

The following is an article featured in the March-April 2014 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM, now available for download here. You can also view the archives of the Library’s former publication from 1993 to 2011. Athena Angelos, image researcher for many Library of Congress publications, discusses the process of visual reference work. How …