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Archive: May 2017 (23 Posts)

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

Story of the Century: My Afternoon with a Jewish American World War II Veteran

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

The following is a guest post by Owen Rogers, liaison specialist for the Veterans History Project. An extended version of the post appeared on the Library’s “Folklife Today” blog. When Burton “Burt” Schuman greeted me at the door with a handshake and an offer of a home tour, he shared his framed Bronze Star Medal and …

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

From High Style to Humble: Surveying America’s Built Environment

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Settlers’ cabins, high-style mansions, jails, barns and churches. These are just a few of the properties the Historic American Buildings Survey has painstakingly documented over the past 80 plus years. The Library started digitizing the survey’s records—many of them stunning and unique—20 years ago, providing public access on its website. Known as HABS for short, …

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

My Job at the Library: Building the Architecture, Design and Engineering Collection

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

(The following is an article from the November/December 2016 issue of LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine, in which Mari Nakahara, curator of architecture, design and engineering in the Prints and Photographs Division, discusses her job. The issue can be read in its entirety here.) How would you describe your work at the Library? Like …

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

Pic of the Week: Disco Dance Party!

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Legendary singer Gloria Gaynor performed the night away in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building on May 6 to an audience of dancers in glittering halter dresses, platform shoes, and bell bottoms. The dance party ended a daylong celebration of disco culture. It started with a symposium that explored disco’s influence on popular …

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

Inquiring Minds: Researching Jewish Cuisine at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Joan Nathan is the author of 11 cookbooks, including “King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World,” published in April. Her previous cookbook, “Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France” was named one of the 10 best cookbooks of 2010 by National Public Radio and Food …

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

Defiant Loyalty: Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Malea Walker, a reference specialist in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, about a collection of newspapers published by Japanese-Americans held in U.S. internment camps during World War II. The Library placed the newspapers online on May 5.   O, what is loyalty If it be something That can bend With every wind? …

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

Photographs Document Early Chinese Immigration

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This annual recognition of Asian Pacific Americans’ contributions started with a 1977 congressional resolution calling for a weeklong observance. In 1992, President George H. W. Bush extended it to the entire month of May. At the Library of Congress, Asian American Pacific Islander resources include books, oral histories, …

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

Pic of the Week: Disco Fashion

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Platform shoes, bell bottoms and halter dresses were the topic at hand at a May 2 event featuring Tim Gunn, one of America’s leading fashion experts. He spoke about disco styles and what they say about the disco era. “It was a time of flamboyance. . . . Everyone wanted to stand out,” Gunn said …