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Posted by: Neely Tucker
Volunteers have been working over the past five years to transcribe the Library’s manuscripts of Walt Whitman, one of the nation’s most iconic poets, from three major collections. Can you help proofread the final 4,000 pages? This June, the Library is hoping you'll do just that as we celebrate Pride month.
Posted in: By the People, Civil War, LGBTQ, Manuscripts, Poetry, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Oscar-winning songwriter and composer Richard Sherman, whose musical work with his brother was such an essential part of Walt Disney Studios that the company renamed their premier soundstage after them, passed away over the Memorial Day weekend. He was 95. Sherman was in good spirits in 2022 when "It's a Small World (After All)," their song for the Disney theme park ride of the same name, was inducted into the National Recording Registry. He spoke about their career of writing music and lyrics for hit Disney films such as "Mary Poppins," "The Jungle Book" and "Winnie the Pooh."
Posted in: Film, Music, National Recording Registry, Performing Arts
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets the night he was assassinated -- a gathering of the ordinary and everyday -- have long been one of the Library's most fascinating holdings. They, along with Lincoln's work on the Gettysburg Address, are featured in "Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress,” the inaugural exhibit of the Library's new Treasures Gallery, opening June 13.
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, LCM, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
This June, the Library will open “Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress,” an exhibition that explores the ways cultures preserve memory and shows off some of the Library's most valuable holdings. The exhibition is the first in the Library’s new David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery.
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Collections, Comics, Geography and Maps Division, LCM, Library Work and Employees, Music, Performing Arts, Rare Book and Special Collections, Thomas Jefferson Building
Posted by: Neely Tucker
To tell the history of Los Angeles, artist Barbara Carrasco wove vignette scenes through the flowing tresses of “la Reina de los Ángeles,” based on a portrait of her sister. The 80-foot mural stretches from prehistory (the La Brea Tar Pits) to the imagined future (Los Angeles International Airport’s Space Age Theme Building) with subjects ranging from the inspiring to grievous. Carrasco's original graphite design, depicting L.A. history flowing through long tresses of hair, now has a home in the Library.
Posted in: African American History, Hispanic American History, Hispanic and Latino, LCM
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Alan Haley, a preservation specialist in the Conservation Division, has worked on everything from an ancient Chinese scroll to the transcript of the Amistad trial in the Library's collections, but has also traveled the globe assisting other libraries with important items or artifacts that are threatened.
Posted in: African American History, Arab/Arab American, Asian Division, Hispanic and Latino, LCM, Library Work and Employees, My Job, Preservation and Conservation, Technology
Posted by: Mark Hartsell
President Thomas Jefferson devised two versions of a unique cipher for the Lewis and Clark expedition across the unknown Louisiana Territory so that the explorers could relay sensitive information to him. They were never used, but the Library has preserved both ciphers as curious relics of a bold mission across a wild continent.
Posted in: LCM, Manuscripts, Native Americans
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, the anchors of the band Blondie, detail how their landmark 1978 album "Parallel Lines" was put together. The album earned a place this year in the National Recording Registry.
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry, Performing Arts
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Cormac Ó hAodha, a resident fellow in the John W. Kluge Center, is taking a deep dive into the Library's Alan Lomax Collection. Lomax, a major figure in 20th-century folklore and ethnomusicology, made field recordings in the Múscraí region of County Cork, Ireland, in the early 1950s. Ó hAodha is using those recordings as part of his Ph. D studies at the University College Cork into the history of the Múscraí song tradition.
Posted in: American Folklife Center, Gazette, Kluge Center, Library Work and Employees, Lomax Collection, Music, Performing Arts, Preservation, Researcher Stories