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Posted by: Erin Allen
As is our tradition, the Library of Congress has once again decorated the Great Hall with a tall tree for the holidays, full of lights and ornaments for the enjoyment of visitors. I’m not sure exactly how tall, but it takes staff using a small cherry picker to put together and decorate the tree. Set amidst …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Photos, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following guest post is by John Van Oudenaren, director for scholarly and educational programs at the Library of Congress.) By the time the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the European powers had been fighting for more than two-and-a-half years. U.S. troops joined their British, French and Belgian allies in battles …
Posted in: Collections, Curators, History, LC Web site, Libraries
Posted by: Erin Allen
The holidays are full of many traditions – gift giving, sending cards, singing and cooking. Also kissing. If ever there was a time to pucker up, it’s in December, underneath the mistletoe. Washington Irving wrote in the 1800s, “young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under [mistletoe], plucking each time a berry from …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Books, Collections, Folksonomies, History, LC Web site, Music
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following was written by Barbara Orbach Natanson, head of the reference section in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division, and featured in the November/December 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) The Library’s documentary photograph collections provide a rich, visual record of the …
Posted in: Civil War, Collections, Curators, History, LC Web site, LCM, Newspapers, Photos, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
This year’s entries to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, 25 in all (bringing the grand total of films of cultural, historic or aesthetic value to be preserved for posterity to 700), will fulfill many of our reasons for going to the pictures: “I go to the movies to be terrified.” – Well, we’re …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Film
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.) This month, in honor of Mary Todd Lincoln’s birthday on December 13, we will depart from our literary theme and look at some of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division’s “special collections.” While these items are not …
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Collections, Curators, History, Rare Book of the Month
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post written by Kaleena Black, program manager for the 2016 Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program.) Are you thinking about applying to the Library of Congress Junior Fellows Summer Intern Program, but aren’t quite sure? The program is a 10-week paid fellowship for undergraduate and graduate students who will work full-time …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Education
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post from Sue Siegel, director of development at the Library of Congress.) To Stephen King, the master of horror, a truly frightening scenario is the emergence of a world of non-readers. King, a champion of literacy recognized by the Library of Congress, says that reading is critical to opening up …
Posted in: Books, Education, Events, National Book Festival, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
Luthier John Montgomery inspects the strings on the 1697 “Castelbarco” cello made by Cremonese master Antonio Stradivari, one of five Stradivari instruments originally donated to the Library by Gertrude Clarke Whittall in 1935. According to her bequest, the instruments would be played from time to time, as they were intended. To that end, she established …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Collections, Music, Photos, Pic of the Week, Washington DC