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Posted by: Erin Allen
While the thought of going back in time to our awkward teenage years might fill most of us with abject horror, the carefree days of childhood may do just the opposite. Naptime and recess, even which crayon to use for coloring, reminds us of simpler times. Well, adults can pick back up their crayons – …
Posted in: Books, Collections, LC Web site, Newspapers
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is the cover story from the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM, written by Yvonne Dooley, reference librarian in the Science, Technology and Business Division and president of the D.C. Library Association. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) More popular than ever, public libraries are changing to meet …
Posted in: Books, Education, LCM, Libraries, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a story featured in the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here. The story was written by August and Clare Imholtz, who have been collecting “Alice” books for more than 30 years. Clare is also a volunteer in the Library’s …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Copyright, History, LCM, Manuscripts
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Sharon Horowitz, reference librarian in the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division.) Exodus 23:15 tells us that Passover should be celebrated in the spring. The rabbis understood this to mean it was their job to maintain the holiday in the spring, which required some manipulation …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, Education, Events, Jewish American History, Manuscripts
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Four hundred years ago this weekend, two of the greatest geniuses in wordcraft this world has ever seen both died: William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes. Shakespeare’s plays still dazzle, written though they are in Elizabethan English and iambic pentameter; their story lines are still fresh enough to inspire endless straight-play performance worldwide, Broadway musicals …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Copyright, Education, History, Libraries, Manuscripts, Poetry, Preservation
Posted by: Erin Allen
In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” the Young Readers Center in the Library of Congress hosted Alice herself, who read from her adventures and led a parade through the halls of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building. The Library of Congress has multiple illustrated editions of Carroll’s noted …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Events, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.) “Billedbog” is a Danish word for picture book, and one lucky boy by the name of Jonas Drewsen was gifted this picture scrapbook by the very famous children’s author Hans Christian Andersen. This one-of-a-kind book is not the …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, Rare Book of the Month
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Levon Avdoyan, Armenian and Georgian area specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) The feast of Easter is arguably the holiest of holidays for the various Christian denominations but especially for the Eastern Churches – among those, the Armenian Church. For it, Easter Week (Avag Shabat, the …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, Manuscripts, Today in History
Posted by: Erin Allen
The work of Edward Gorey has often been described as “macabre,” a word that his friend Alexander Theroux claims the noted author and artist didn’t like. While I would agree that it’s an appropriate word, Gorey’s drawings are something more – odd, whimsical, humorous, magical, mysterious, gloomy, eccentric – all rolled up in delightful pen-and-ink …
Posted in: Books, Collections