The Library of Congress is now home to a huge collection of nearly 100 pocket globes -- miniature globes that were fashionable art objects from the 17th to 19th centuries, during the age of exploration. The globes, perhaps three inches in diameter, were made of everything from ivory to papier mache, some housed in expensive sharkskin boxes. The family and foundation of the late Jay I. Kislak donated 74 pocket globes to the Library recently, adding to the collector's prodigious donations to the Library's Geography and Map Division.
The Library's Free to Use and Reuse sets of curated prints and photographs include subjects such as travel, autumn and Halloween, weddings, movie palaces and dozens more. This set of athletes in action include baseball icon Jackie Robinson, early race car driver Joan Newton Cuneo and women hurdlers.
The Library's Veterans History Project houses thousands of photographs taken by U.S. soldiers. Joseph Beimfohr's photos let viewers peek into his war experiences in Iraq -- a time that included losing both legs in an explosion. The Library's latest research guide to military photos includes thousands taken in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Letters in the Library’s stunning collection of correspondence that has helped shape the world as we know it, stretching back more than a thousand years. Written by the famous and the forgotten in any number of languages and dialects from all over the world the letters are on everything from ancient vellum to dime store postcards. It includes letters from Wolfgang Mozart, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman, George Washington and thousands of others. One of the most significant is a papal bull from Pope Alexander VI, giving Spain title to any "new lands" they might discover in the "new world," setting the stage for hundreds of years of colonialism.
The Better Angels Society, the Library of Congress and the Crimson Lion/Lavine Family Foundation established the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film in 2019 in order to help promote historical documentaries that might not otherwise have a path to sharing their work more widely. The winner receives a $200,000 finishing grant to help with the final production and distribution of the film. In addition, one runner-up receives a grant of $50,000 and three to four finalists each receive $25,000. These funds are used for finishing, marketing, distribution and outreach. Submissions for this year's prize are now open.
Cinco de Mayo celebrations marks the Mexican victory over French invaders in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla. The victory did not stop the French from establishing a short-lived client state in Mexico, but it did become of rallying cry of Mexico's determination to be free of European powers.
The Library recently acquired Spanish surrealist Joan Miro's "Makemono," a 32-foot scroll artwork created in collaboration with French lithographer Aime Maeght in Paris in 1956.
