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Posted by: Erin Allen
We continue our spotlight of letters from the Letters About Literature initiative, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives. Winners for 2016 were announced earlier this month. There was a tie …
Posted by: Mark Hartsell
As a hospital chaplain during the Civil War, William Oland Bourne collected the names of the wounded soldiers he tended and, in doing so, noticed a terrible trend: Many soldiers used their left hands to sign his autograph book because their right arms were missing. How, Bourne wondered, could these grievously wounded men adapt – …
Posted in: Civil War, Collections, Curators, History, LC Web site, Manuscripts, New Online
Posted by: Erin Allen
The Country Music Association and Library of Congress Music Division joined forces again to bring the CMA Songwriters Series to the Library’s historic Coolidge Auditorium. This year’s concert featured Kristian Bush of the hit country duo Sugarland, along with Jim Collins and Charlie Worsham. Launched in 2005 at Joe’s Pub in New York City, the CMA Songwriters Series gives …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Concerts, Events, Music, Photos, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
Letters About Literature, a Library of Congress national reading- and writing-promotion program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives, announced its 2016 winners earlier this month. Nearly 50,000 young readers from across the country participated in …
Posted by: Erin Allen
“America Reads,” which opened yesterday in the Southwest Gallery of the Jefferson Building, is possibly the first sequel exhibition at the Library of Congress. It follows the institution’s popular 2012 exhibition “Books That Shaped America,” which displayed 88 books by American authors “that had a profound effect on American life.” For this exhibition, the books were chosen …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Collections, Events, Exhibitions, Libraries, Manuscripts, Photos, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: John Sayers
We continue our Throwback Thursday #TBT celebration of Chronicling America, our free, online searchable database of historical U.S. newspapers, with interesting stories from the archives as selected by reference librarians in our Serials & Government Publications Division. Today we return to our historical newspaper archives to veer off from the normal journalistic endeavors and examine …
Posted in: History, Newspapers
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a story from the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Inspired by the nation’s long history of photographic survey projects, photographer Robert Dawson decided to focus his camera on America’s public libraries at the turn of the 21st century. “Since …
Posted in: Books, Collections, LCM, Libraries, Photos
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.) When you think of the “Jungle Book,” what comes to mind first? For some, it is the classic 1967 Walt Disney movie; for others, the new 2016 Disney release. However, for many bibliophiles, there is no substitute for …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Rare Book of the Month
Posted by: Erin Allen
Nominated for a record-setting 16 Tony Awards, “Hamilton” the musical swept the ceremony winning 11, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and a handful of best actor/actresses. The show is based on the Ron Chernow biography on founding father Alexander Hamilton, which Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical, had picked up on a whim …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Books, Collections, Congress, Events, History, Law Library, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Music