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Posted by: Neely Tucker
Cheers to a list of favorite holiday drinks from long-ago mixology books in Library collections as curated by J.J. Harbster, head of the Science Reference Section. You can try the Baltimore Egg Nog from 1862, but we'll opt for the bourbon-based Frosted Cocktail of 1910.
Posted in: Christmas, Curators, LCM, Library Work and Employees, Science
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Monica Smith, chief of the Library's informal learning office, talks about her work and the goals of the program. She joined the Library in 2023 after three decades at the Smithsonian; she's also a veteran world traveler.
Posted in: Curators, Gazette, Kids, Libraries, Library Work and Employees, My Job
Posted by: Neely Tucker
For 34 years, Kathy Woodrell helped bring the Library's decorative arts collections to light. She recently retired. Here, she reflects on her years at the Library, particularly how her early exposure to architecture, antiques and textiles influenced her career.
Posted in: Curators, LCM, Library Work and Employees
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Fashion has always been an avenue for reference and reinvention, expressing societal viewpoints and political movements through fabric and adornment. As the Library’s collections demonstrate, this was especially true for 20th-century fashion in the U.S. The story of American style is depicted in the Library’s century-old newspapers and magazines; in department store catalogs and home-sewing pattern books; in vintage lithographs and high-gloss photography.
Posted in: Collections, Curators, LCM
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Mariah Carey surprised a festive crowd during the Library’s Santa Claus edition of “Live! At the Library“ last night, making an entrance as her signature hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” played in the Great Hall. Decked out in a stage-worthy sparkling dress and pink high heels, she picked up the song's framed certificate of induction from the National Recording Registry from Librarian Carla Hayden and - like most everyone else at the party - posed for a couple of pictures by the Christmas tree.
Posted in: Christmas, Curators, Events, Library Work and Employees, Music, National Recording Registry, News, Performing Arts, Social Media
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Nathan Dorn is the curator of the rare books collection at the Law Library of Congress. He builds the Library's holdings of centuries of legal texts from many nations, including early methods of legal procedures to unusual subjects such as witchcraft and miracles.
Posted in: Curators, Law Library, LCM, Library Work and Employees, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Mark Dimunation has displayed his love for rare books in print, onstage and on television since he was appointed chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library — the largest collection of rare books in North America — a quarter of a century ago, in 1998. He retires this week, telling stories about great books and great personalities he's come across during his tenure.
Posted in: Curators, Library Work and Employees, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Every institution has its institutions, and one of the Library’s is John Hessler, who will retire from the Geography and Map Division at the end of this month. He holds many titles, official and unofficial. One of the official ones is curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology & History of the …
Posted in: Curators, Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library Work and Employees, Native Americans, News, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Library of Congress is now home to a huge collection of nearly 100 pocket globes -- miniature globes that were fashionable art objects from the 17th to 19th centuries, during the age of exploration. The globes, perhaps three inches in diameter, were made of everything from ivory to papier mache, some housed in expensive sharkskin boxes. The family and foundation of the late Jay I. Kislak donated 74 pocket globes to the Library recently, adding to the collector's prodigious donations to the Library's Geography and Map Division.
Posted in: Collections, Curators, Jay I. Kislak Collection, Maps