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Archive: 2024 (90 Posts)

Color coded map of several areas marked in yellow, green, blue and purple, much like a

Native American Languages, Alive at the Library

Posted by: Neely Tucker

This is a guest post by Barbara Bair, a historian in the Manuscript Division. She most recently wrote about Ralph Ellison’s photography work. Two important collections of Native American heritage have been digitized and placed on the Library’s website, enabling readers and researchers to dig into histories that are not widely known.   The first, …

Head-and-shoulders portrait of Sarah Hale, an engraving showing her in mid 19th century attire, including a white bonnet. She has a somber expression, looking to the left of the viewer

The Woman Who Helped Put Thanksgiving on the Calendar

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Sarah Josepha Hale was a prominent magazine editor, abolitionist and social activist throughout most of the 19th century, perhaps best known for composing the children's nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb." But her most long-lasting effort was her years-long campaign to get the federal government to designate Thanksgiving as a federal holiday. Her decisive tactic? A letter to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

A midcentury hardcover cookbook, showing caricatures of a dancing man and woman in colorful holiday attire

Historical Holiday Cookbooks … Did We Really Eat This Stuff? (Yes)

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Holidays are often defined by the foods cooked up in the kitchen, although those foods and how they're prepared change over time. Among the Library's collection of more than 40,000 cookbooks are plenty devoted to the craft of preparing those special occasion meals. But what might have been a great Thanksgiving dinner in 1920 certainly looked different than one in 1965, and Christmas foods are always changing. Different cultures have unique traditions for each holiday, making for an ever-evolving American smorgasbord.

A sepia-toned photograph from around 1900 of a black man wearing a three piece suit with a tie and a starched white collar.

Scott Joplin & the Magical “Maple Leaf Rag”

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Legendary ragtime composer Scott Joplin died in poverty at age 48 in 1917 and left few personal artifacts behind; only three photographs of him are known to exist. The song that made him famous was the spirited "Maple Leaf Rag" in 1899. So 125 years later, when the Library's music staff pulls the two copies of "Maple Leaf Rag" sheet music that Joplin and his music publisher mailed in for copyright registration, it can produce an audible gasp.

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

Publishing at the Library, with Aimee Hess

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

In this edition of "My Job" at the Library, Aimee Hess talks about her work in editing and producing books that highlight the Library’s collections. She oversees the Library's Crime Classics series, has written two books in the "Women Who Dare" series and cowritten two books: one on the suffrage exhibition, “Shall Not Be Denied"; and one about the Library's photograph collections, “The Joy of Looking."

Black and white phot of a smiling Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach danding in a recording studio in the 1960s.

Burt Bacharach: This Guy’s in the Library of Congress

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Burt Bacharach, one of the most popular songwriters and composers in American history, was awarded the Gershwin Prize in 2012. He wrote or cowrote dozens of pop standards -- "Walk on By," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head," "The Look of Love," "I Say a Little Prayer," "(They Long to Be) Close to You" -- mostly with lyricist Hal David. He also composed, arranged, conducted the band or orchestras for the recording sessions and recorded his own albums. His songs have been recorded by hundreds of artists around the world. His papers are now at the Library.

A medium close up photo of several lines of poetry set onto a chest-high wall.

Veterans Day: Remembering World War I

Posted by: Neely Tucker

"A Soldier's Journey," a new bronze statue, was recently unveiled at the World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C.'s Pershing Park. An excerpt from "The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak," a poem by former Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish, adorns another wall at the park. Both mark a fitting tribute to the nation's fallen soldiers this Memorial Day.

Two women and one man sit on a stage in front of a National Book Festival backdrop.

Ned Blackhawk’s “The Rediscovering of America”

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Author and academic Ned Blackhawk has been studying Native American history for a long time, and he thinks there are reasons to be optimistic about the future. He says that groundwork laid over the past several decades, particularly in the 1970s protest movements, has established a growing recognition of Native American influence on the foundations of U.S. culture and society, resulting in a cultural renaissance. His latest book, “The Rediscovery of America,” won the National Book Award for nonfiction this year, and his panel discussion at the National Book Festival was packed.