What if Abraham Lincoln recorded his innermost thoughts as he moved toward the realization that he must end slavery? What if he lost that diary, but a recently discovered letter suggests that the diary is still out there? Such is the premise of “The Lincoln Letter” (Tor/Forge, 2012) by William Martin, his latest mystery novel …
(The following is an article written by David A. Taylor, external relations and program development officer in Library Services, for the November-December 2012 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine. The article takes a look at an event this Thursday and Friday that will celebrate one of the most powerful and crucial forms of information …
(The following is a guest post by Jason Steinhauer, a program specialist in the Library’s John W. Kluge Center, as part of the blog series, “Inquiring Minds.”) Legal scholar John Witte served as the recent Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History. Author of 220 articles, 15 journal symposia, and 26 books, …
(The Library of Congress is not solely our collections. It’s also our people. Often our blog showcases the treasures. Now we’ll also showcase the minds. The following is a guest post by Jason Steinhauer, a program specialist in the Library’s John W. Kluge Center, to debut a new blog series, “Inquiring Minds.” We start with …
Library of Congress and Capitol Hill staff gathered today in the historic Thomas Jefferson Building for a special event launching Congress.gov, a new public beta site for accessing free, fact-based legislative information. Featuring platform mobility, comprehensive information retrieval and user-friendly presentation, the new site eventually will replace the THOMAS system, introduced in 1995. “Thomas Jefferson …
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, one of the leading scholars and practitioners of political economy in recent Latin American history, received the 2012 John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity in a special ceremony Tuesday at the Library of Congress. “I feel honored, and humbled, to receive this most prestigious prize. I …
Happy Fourth of July! Today in 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring freedom of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. The Library is home to the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. A couple of years ago, thanks to the work of the Library of Congress’ Preservation Research and Testing …
When I was a kid, my dad went to Hawaii for work and brought back grass skirts and shell necklaces for me and my sister. I can remember prancing about the house mimicking what I thought at the time was a hula dance, likely influenced by watching too much “Fantasy Island.” According to the International …
In addition to today being Flag Day (you can read more about that here), June 14 is also Family History Day. This actually makes me think of my dad, who has become quite the budding genealogist. Over the last several months, he has been extensively researching our family tree. Apparently one of my very distant …