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Archive: 2015 (136 Posts)

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

Serving Up Food Collections

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following story, written by Library culinary specialist Alison Kelly, is featured in the November/December 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) The Nation’s Library offers a veritable feat of food-related collections. Whether you’re researching what was served at the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving or …

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

Inquiring Minds: VHP Marks 15 Years Preserving Veterans’ Stories

Posted by: Mark Hartsell

A missing Air Crew Report, author Dennis Okerstrom says, provides plenty of facts about losses in air combat: type of aircraft, names and ranks of crew members, a flight plan. Those facts can’t, however, reveal war’s human dimension – what it’s like to actually get shot down in combat. “It cannot begin to convey the …

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

LC in the News: October 2015 Edition

Posted by: Erin Allen

In October, the Library of Congress celebrated a major milestone – Chronicling America, a free, online searchable database of historic U.S. newspapers, posted its 10 millionth page. To mark the milestone, the Library published a series of lists on its social media featuring interesting and off-beat content from the online archive. Several outlets picked up …

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

A Whole New Blog

Posted by: Erin Allen

Today we welcome the newest member of the Library’s blog family. World’s Revealed: Geography & Maps at the Library of Congress will highlight cartographic objects from the Library’s collections that “sometimes go beyond what usually ends up in exhibits and in textbooks and bring to the forefront uncataloged objects that have never before been placed online.” The …

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

10 Stories: Monkeys! Chronicling America

Posted by: John Sayers

In celebration of the release of the 10 millionth page of Chronicling America, our free, online searchable database of historical U.S. newspapers, the reference librarians in our Serials & Government Publications Division have selected some interesting subjects and articles from the archives. We’ve been sharing them in a series of Throwback Thursday #TBT blog posts. …

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

Opening Day … For the Library

Posted by: Erin Allen

Until 1897, the Library of Congress was housed in the U.S. Capitol Building itself. Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864–97) was the first to propose that the Library be moved to a dedicated building. He also was instrumental in establishing the copyright law of 1870, which placed the Copyright Office in the Library and …

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

Let’s Take a Spooky Road Trip!

Posted by: Erin Allen

America is full of weird and spooky places, and what better time to highlight some of them than Halloween! The Library’s collections have a wealth of materials on all kinds of topics, so it wasn’t hard to find places worthy of a frightful road trip! Zzyzx (pronounced zye-zex), located in San Bernadino County, California, was …

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

10 Stories: Scary Stuff! Chronicling America

Posted by: John Sayers

In celebration of the release of the 10 millionth page of Chronicling America, our free, online searchable database of historical U.S. newspapers, the reference librarians in our Serials & Government Publications Division have selected some interesting subjects and articles from the archives. We’ve been sharing them in a series of Throwback Thursday #TBT blog posts. …

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

The Importance of the Write Stuff

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following post is written by Guy Lamolinara, co-director of the Library of Congress National Book Festival.) The ability to read and write is taken for granted by those who can read and write. But for the millions of people worldwide for whom the written word strikes fear and apprehension in their hearts, these skills …