Today the Librarian of Congress named the 25 films that will comprise the National Film Registry’s entries for the year 2010. These are films that have cultural, historical or aesthetic significance that warrants their preservation for posterity. All in all, there are 550 films in the registry. Although there is great variety in this year’s …
A forlorn-looking girl in a mourning dress holds a picture of her late father. An impossibly young soldier, probably prepubescent, stands at attention with his bayoneted musket. An African-American in Union uniform sits stoically with his wife and two daughters. A pair of uniformed comrades pose comically, each holding a cigar in the other’s mouth. …
This is a guest post by Sarah Rouse, a volunteer in the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division. “War experience just hypnotizes young men.” So said Victor Lundy, a World War II veteran who recorded many of his war memories through his sketchbooks, now donated to the Library of Congress. I interviewed Lundy for …
This is the seventh in a series of guest posts by Abigail Van Gelder, who with her husband, Josh, is journeying across the country on the Library’s “Gateway to Knowledge” traveling exhibition: We knew that Oberlin, OH was going to be a special event. Oberlin College is the alma mater of Emily Rapoport—who, with her …
This is one of a series of guest posts by Abigail Van Gelder, who with her husband, Josh, is journeying across the country on the Library’s “Gateway to Knowledge” traveling exhibition: Congressman Charlie Wilson from Ohio stopped by to welcome guests to the Gateway To Knowledge exhibit on its first day in Marietta; he was joined …
One of the things I love about working here is the reaction people often have to the collections: the broad smiles, the dropped jaws, the “I-can’t-believe-you-have-thats.” It’s times like those when I wish more Americans could have those same magical moments. Abby and Emily Rapoport apparently thought the same thing. The two approached the Library …
My colleague Erin Allen wrote the following for the Library’s in-house letter, The Gazette, and I thought it worth sharing with a wider audience: Among comic-book aficionados, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham (1895–1981) is considered as much of a villain as those he assailed in the crime and horror comics he criticized. However, Wertham was more than …
If you follow popular music, you likely saw in June that Sir Paul McCartney—in Washington to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song—not only sang at the White House but also, the night before that elegant gig, performed at a venue at the Library known as the Coolidge Auditorium. You might also …
Did you happen to catch the “CBS Evening News” last night? They featured the latest audio recordings the Library has added to the National Recording Registry, which features everything from Jiminy Cricket and Little Richard to Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Tupac Shakur and a World War II battle. As Katie Couric might say, Anthony Mason …
