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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.) When I began working at the Library of Congress in 1992 as the Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist to the Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division, it was as if …
Posted in: Collections, Curators, Exhibitions, History, Manuscripts
Posted by: Erin Allen
A camel walked into Mount Vernon … sounds like the beginning of a rather offbeat joke. However, such is not the case. On Dec. 29, 1787, our nation’s soon-to-be first president, at home on his estate in Alexandria, Virginia, played host to a rather exotic animal for the holidays. I first heard this story from …
Posted in: Collections, Curators, Events, History, Manuscripts
Posted by: Erin Allen
On this day in 1843, the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” was published. Or was it? While researching the book’s history, there appeared to be some confusion over the date, with many sources confirming December 19 as the day Ebenezer Scrooge was introduced to readers. As it turns out, the book has a somewhat …
Posted in: Books, Collections, History, Today in History
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following post is by Jeanne Theoharis, distinguished professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and the author of the award-winning “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks.” A revised edition of the book has just been published with a new introduction drawn from the recently opened papers …
Posted in: Collections, History, Manuscripts, Photos, Today in History
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is an article written by Alison Kelly, science librarian and culinary specialist in the Library’s Science, Technology and Business Division, for the November/December 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Today’s popular food blogs are an outgrowth of recipe-sharing in America that …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, History, LCM
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.) It’s the time of year when one’s thoughts turn to hearth and home in preparation for Thanksgiving. In honor of this quintessential American holiday, “In the Kitchen,” by Elizabeth Smith Miller, is the Rare Book of the Month. …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, History, Manuscripts, Rare Book of the Month
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following story, written by Library culinary specialist Alison Kelly, is featured in the November/December 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) The Nation’s Library offers a veritable feat of food-related collections. Whether you’re researching what was served at the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving or …
Posted in: Books, Collections, History, LCM, Manuscripts, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Erin Allen
Until 1897, the Library of Congress was housed in the U.S. Capitol Building itself. Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864–97) was the first to propose that the Library be moved to a dedicated building. He also was instrumental in establishing the copyright law of 1870, which placed the Copyright Office in the Library and …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Collections, Events, History, News, Newspapers, Thomas Jefferson Building, Today in History, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
America is full of weird and spooky places, and what better time to highlight some of them than Halloween! The Library’s collections have a wealth of materials on all kinds of topics, so it wasn’t hard to find places worthy of a frightful road trip! Zzyzx (pronounced zye-zex), located in San Bernadino County, California, was …
Posted in: Collections, History, Newspapers, Photos, Today in History