Vivian Li, an exciting Seattle-based artist and web developer, will be the Library's 2025 Innovator in Residence. Li burst into popular social media popularity with a series about the Seattle Fremont Bridge in 2023, bringing local history to life for new readers. At the Library, Li will develop a series called “Anywhere Adventures” that will connect young researchers with Library holdings about their local communities.
“Chicken Heart,” a 7-minute episode of the “Lights Out” radio series that aired just before midnight in March 1937 was a cheesily effective landmark of the Golden Age of Radio. Living on for decades through rebroadcasts, remakes, in syndication and on records, it snaked its way into the childhood memories of everyone from horror master Stephen King to comedian Bill Cosby, becoming a campy horror cult favorite. It was the brainchild of playwright Arch Oboler, a major star of radio whose name has since faded from popular recognition.
"Wuthering Heights," the classic 19th century British novel, so fascinated Candice Buchanan as a teen that it helped inspire her career as a genealogist and reference librarian. She recounts the story here and provides a new research guide for readers into genealogical fiction.
The Library has a fascinating collection of architectural drawings going back as far as the 1600s, many of which were never built. They offer a look into what could have been had the stars aligned. A futuristic different Ellis Island, a Gothic Library of Congress and a Lower Manhattan Expressway are just some of the elaborate designs that never came to be, by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Mills and Paul Rudolph.
Edgar Allan Poe died 175 years ago today, on Oct. 7, 1849. Here, we revisit the first publication of his poetic masterpiece, "The Raven" and the tragic circumstances (his dying young wife) that led to him writing it.
