(The following was written by Sahr Conway-Lanz, historian in the Library’s Manuscript Division.) Like many individuals around the globe, Woodrow Wilson was shocked by the outbreak of a devastating world war among European empires in 1914. As President of the United States, however, he had a unique opportunity to shape the outcome of this catastrophic …
(The following was written by Julie Miller, Barbara Bair and Michelle Krowl, historians in the Library’s Manuscript Division, for the January/February 2017 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Presidential candidates have used popular culture to promote their campaigns for nearly 200 years. Today’s political …
All eyes turn to Washington this week, as the nation’s 45th president is inaugurated on January 20. However, until the passage of the 20th Amendment in 1933, inauguration day was always March 4 in order to allow enough time after Election Day for officials to gather election returns and for newly elected candidates to travel to …
The Library of Congress welcomed new members of Congress and their family families, friends and supporters at events marking the start of the new term of the 115th Congress last week. Five new members of Congress – joined by about 800 guests – held receptions in the Jefferson or Madison buildings: Reps. Anthony Brown (D-Maryland), Tom O’Halleran (D-Arizona), Jamie …
(The following is a guest post by William Kellum, manager in the Library’s Web Services Division.) Presidential Collections With the next presidential inauguration quickly approaching, we’ve updated a popular presentation from our old American Memory site on U.S. presidential inaugurations: “I Do Solemnly Swear…” A Resource Guide highlights items from the Library’s collections such as …
Today, American citizens gather en masse to exercise their right to vote for the nation’s next president. This particular election will certainly go down in the history books as an interesting one. However, American presidential election history is full of choice moments. This election year hasn’t been the first to see name-calling and insults. In …
In case you missed it, the Library of Congress has a new Librarian of Congress, who made headlines throughout the month of September. In addition to being named Fox News Sunday Power Play of the Week, Carla Hayden spoke with several outlets, including USA Today, The Washington Post, The Guardian, NBC, NPR, CBS, The New …
(The following is a guest post by William Kellum, manager in the Library’s Web Services Division.) Website Updates Today in History is an online presentation of historic events illustrated by items from the Library’s digital collections. First established in 1997, the site was migrated this month from the American Memory site to a new home …
To say that Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden is all smiles, excitement and curiosity is an understatement. On her first official day in office last Thursday, her inquisitiveness and thirst for all things was almost palpable. Hayden began her day with a meeting on the National Book Festival. “This is so exciting,” she said, a …