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Posted by: Neely Tucker
David Breger, a successful freelance cartoonist, drafted into the Army in 1941, created the "Private Breger" cartoon during his off-duty hours at Camp Livingston. Once it caught on, the name (but little else) was changed to "G.I. Joe." From there, it became a cultural icon.
Posted in: Comics, LCM, World War II
Posted by: Neely Tucker
U.S. politician and diplomat Joel R. Poinsett was also an amateur botanist. In 1828, he brought back a bright red plant from a posting in Mexico, grew it in his South Carolina greenhouses and was so identified with its popularity that it was soon named after him -- the poinsettia, the ever-popular holiday decoration.
Posted in: Christmas
Posted by: Neely Tucker
"A Christmas Memory," Truman Capote's bittersweet short story about his small-town Alabama childhood with his eccentric elderly cousin, has been one of the nation's most beloved tales in the holiday canon since it was first published in 1956. The Library has Capote's handwritten draft of the story, which reveals much about the young Capote.
Posted in: Christmas, Manuscripts, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The National Film Registry's 2021 class is the most diverse in the program's 33-year history, including blockbusters such as "Return of the Jedi," "Selena" and "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring," but also the '70s midnight-movie favorite "Pink Flamingos" and a 1926 film featuring Black pilots in the daring new world of aviation, "The Flying Ace." The Library interviewed a dozen key players about their role in inducted films, including Mark Hamill, Edward James Olmos, John Waters, and documentary filmmakers Cheryl Dunye and Sylvia Morales.
Posted in: African American History, Asian American, Asian American History, Hispanic and Latino, LGBTQ, National Film Preservation Board, National Film Registry
Posted by: Neely Tucker
As college football bowl games give way to the NFL playoffs this time of year, the specter of Red Grange — the Galloping Ghost — who starred for the University of Illinois in the mid-1920s and brought respectability to the sketchy professional sport, lives on in photographs from the Library’s collections.
Posted in: Free to Use and Reuse, LCM
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Ch'onhado is a type of Korean quasi-cosmographical depiction that means "map of the world beneath the heavens." This colorful map is a gorgeous example of the form.
Posted in: Geography and Maps Division, LCM
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Mark Eden Horowitz, a senior music specialist in the Music Division, recounts his long friendship with Stephen Sondheim and how the maestro's papers will come to the Library.
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, Music, Performing Arts, Theater
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Clay tablets with an ancient writing system known as cuneiform are more than 4,000 years old, among the oldest items in the Library's collections.
Posted in: African and Middle Eastern Division, LCM
Posted by: Neely Tucker
China's colossal Yongle encyclopedia, published in the 15th century, comprised 22,937 hand-copied sections bound into 11,095 volumes. It was intended to comprise all knowledge available to Chinese civilizations.
Posted in: Asian Division, Books, LCM