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Library in the News: February 2016 Edition

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In February, the Library added a host of resources to its offerings, both onsite and online.

Early February, the Library debuted a new exhibition on “Jazz Singers,” which offers perspectives on the art of vocal jazz, featuring singers and song stylists from the 1920s to the present.

The ArtsBeat blog of the New York Times called the exhibition a “trove of rarities.”

Will Friedwald of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “Jazz is about singing with soul, rhythm and personality, and if you want a visual and inspirational definition of what the music is all about, look no further.”

Deborah Block of Voice of America wrote, “Past and present, they are keeping jazz alive for generations to come.”

The exhibition is also online.

With much anticipation, the Library’s Rosa Parks Collection was added to the Library’s online offerings in February. A selection of photographs, letters, manuscripts and other ephemera reveal many details of Parks’ life and personality.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea that people who cannot travel and do not have the opportunity to travel will have an opportunity to see the brilliance of the mother of the modern civil rights movement,” said Elaine Steele, who, along with Parks, co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in Detroit. She spoke with the Detroit News regarding the Library’s collection.

The online presentation was also featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press and Mashable, among many others.

In collaboration with the WGBH Educational Foundation, the Library launched the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, which recently acquired New Hampshire Public Radio’s digital collection of interviews and speeches by presidential candidates from 1995-2007.

The announcement was also made in Fine Books & Collections Magazine and Radio World.

The Library has also been featured in The Washington Post’s series of “Presidential” podcasts, highlighting our curatorial experts.

And, speaking of presidents, Slate’s “The Vault” blog took a look at a different aspect of George Washington’s career – that of surveyor. The Library holds several maps from his lifelong involvement in surveying and cartography, all of which are available online at the Library.

In addition to these new offerings, the Library recently added to its collections 96 original courtroom drawings by Aggie Kenny, Bill Robles and Elizabeth Williams that show high-profile trials from the past four decades.

“The hand-drawn moments take us inside some of the most famous trials of recent decades, to scenes only made visible by the ongoing work of courtroom artists,” wrote Allison Meier for Hyperallergic.com.

The New York Times and Associated Press also featured stories on the courtroom drawings acquisition.

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