The papers of Jonathan Larson and Leonard Bernstein are among many of the Library's musical holdings that have been used extensively by composers, actors and musicians in producing works on Broadway and in Hollywood. Lin-Manuel Miranda drew on Larson's papers for his production of "tick...tick...BOOM!" and the creative team behind the Bernstein documentary "Bernstein's Wall" and the feature film "Maestro" used Library collections for their works.
The complete Stephen Sondheim collection is now at the Library, opening much of the maestro's legendary career to fans and researchers. It's treasure trove built over the past 30 years, featuring some 15,000 albums and more than 5,000 manuscripts, music and lyric sketches and other items documenting his creative process, all spelled out in Sondheim’s clear, careful hand.
You thought no one edits Shakespeare? Actually, they did. All the time. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds seven printings of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” that include scenes being cut out entirely, characters' roles being reduced and even an added conversation between Romeo and Juliet in the play’s final scene (he lives just a wee bit longer in this version). These alterations over the centuries challenge our contemporary reverence for Shakespeare as an untouchable genius.
Linnea Vegh was working at a large, well-lit workspace in the Conservation Division on a recent day, considering an unusual problem in an 1869 Persian-Arabic dictionary published in India: Snakeskin. Five thin, scaly pieces, all likely used as bookmarks that got left behind for more than a century. Welcome to the weird world of “inclusions,” an ecosystem known to archivists the world over in which they come across all sort of things readers have purposefully or inadvertently left between a book’s pages.
They just popped off the racks back in the midcentury, those Dell mapbacks, the pulp paperback series with dramatic, cheesy covers and bright maps on the back. Guys, dames, gunshots, cops, killers, a little romance, a little naughtiness – they had it all, kid. The Library has a near complete collection of the 600 or so titles in the popular series, a beloved part of American 20th-century book publishing.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett headlined this year's National Book Festival, promoting her book "Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and the Constitution," in an onstage conversation with festival co-Chairman David Rubenstein.
Literacy Partners, a 52-year-old New York City nonprofit that works with families, both parents and children, won the top prize in the 2025 Library of Congress Literacy Awards, taking home the $150,000 David M. Rubenstein Prize. Since 2013, the Literacy Awards have handed out 247 prizes, totaling more than $4.3 million, all from philanthropic donations. More than 200 organizations from 42 countries have been recognized for their work.
Cassandra Gardner started working for the Library while still in high school. She never left and, forty years later, is retiring this month. Next year, she says, she'll look for a parttime job "for travel and casino money" because "life is too short not to enjoy yourself."
