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Archive: August 2014 (12 Posts)

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

The Last Word: E.L. Doctorow

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is an article in the July-August 2014 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. Award-winning novelist E.L. Doctorow discusses the role of fiction and storytelling. You can read the issue in its entirety here.)  The story is the most ancient way of knowing. It preceded writing. It is the world’s first system for collecting …

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

Out of the Ashes

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is an article written by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer for the Center for the Book, featured in the September-October 2012 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. Aug. 24 was the 200th anniversary of the burning of the Capitol building and the Library.) The story of the phoenix that rises triumphantly from its …

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

Abraham Lincoln’s “Blind Memorandum”

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post by Michelle Krowl, a historian in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.) Could George B. McClellan have become the seventeenth President of the United States? It certainly appeared to be a possibility as Abraham Lincoln assessed the military and political landscape of the United States in the summer of …

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

Pic of the Week: En Pointe

Posted by: Erin Allen

Last week, the Library of Congress opened the exhibition “American Ballet Theatre: Touring the Globe for 75 Years,” which highlights the dance company’s distinguished history and its collection here at the Library. Shortly after the opening, ABT alum Sue Knapp-Steen (1969-1974) stopped by to view the exhibition and reminisce on her time as a professional dancer …

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

Trending: Happy 100th Birthday, Panama Canal

Posted by: Erin Allen

Aug. 15, 2014, marked the centennial of the completion of the Panama Canal, a 48- mile waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The canal is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Plans by the Panamanian government to celebrate the historic event began more than a year ago. A Panama Canal mobile app was launched …

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

Letters About Literature: Dear Jhumpa Lahiri

Posted by: Erin Allen

In this final installment of our Letters About Literature spotlight, we feature the Level 3 National Honor-winning letter of  Riddhi Sangam of Saratoga, Calif., who wrote to Jhumpa Lahiri, author of “The Namesake.” Letters About Literature, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author …

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

Library in the News: July 2014 Edition

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Library of Congress had two major announcements in July, featuring well-known public figures, that garnered several headlines. Billy Joel was named the next recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Stories ran in Rolling Stone, the Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Today Show. Joel was also featured as …

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

Clocking In

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building opened to the public in 1897. Hailed by a guidebook as a “gorgeous and palatial monument to its [America’s] national sympathy and appreciation of literature, science and art,” the construction of the edifice was a feat in and of itself – more than 15 years of postponements, major …