(The following is a guest post by William Kellum, manager in the Library’s Web Services Division.)
Website Updates
Today in History is an online presentation of historic events illustrated by items from the Library’s digital collections. First established in 1997, the site was migrated this month from the American Memory site to a new home on loc.gov. The revised site features larger images, responsive design and, most importantly, hundreds of updates, corrections and enhancements. The site’s content is written by reference experts from across many of the Library’s divisions and is a great resource for teachers, history enthusiasts and more. Each illustrated story ends with suggestions for further inquiry and investigation within the Library’s rich online resources.
September brought another release of Congress.gov, featuring several enhancements and improvements – read all about them on the Law Library’s excellent blog post.
Heritage Months
National Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15 to October 15. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Hispanic Americans who have influenced and enriched our nation and society. The Hispanic Heritage website has been redesigned and upgraded, featuring new content for 2016, a new adaptive visual design, new and improved video player and more.
Folklife Collections
The Montana Folklife Survey Collection was established in the summer of 1979 by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, in cooperation with the Montana Arts Council. The survey was a field research project to document traditional folklife in Montana and joins the Chicago Ethnic Arts collection, which was released earlier this year. The collection features sound recordings, photographs and manuscripts that document interviews with Montanans in various occupations including ranching, sheep herding, blacksmithing, stone cutting, saddle making and mining. The sound recordings also feature various folk and traditional music occasions, including fiddle and mandolin music in Forsyth; fiddle and accordion music performed in Broadus; the Montana Old-Time Fiddlers Association in Polson; Irish music, songs and dance music on concertina and accordion in Butte; a Serbian wedding and reception in Butte; hymn singing of the Turner Colony of Hutterites; the annual Crow Fair in Crow Agency; storytelling on the Milk River Wagon Train; and other documentation of rodeos, trade crafts, vernacular architecture, quilting and reminiscences and stories about life in Montana in 1979. A finding aid to the entire collection is also available online.
The Montana Folklife Collection includes field recordings like this 1979 recording of Evening Dances from the Native American Crow Fair.
Online Exhibits
Finally, in conjunction with new items on display in the Library’s Jefferson Building, the online “Mapping a Growing Nation: From Independence to Statehood” exhibit features early American maps, which will eventually include maps from all 50 states. A highlight is Abel Buell’s New and Correct Map of the United States of North America, the first map of the newly independent U.S. compiled, printed and published in America by an American.