Top of page
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
To read a poem is a quiet joy. To read some authors’ prose is as wonderful as reading a poem. It’s just the poet, or the writer, and you. Right there, in black and white. What could be better? How about hearing it “in color” as a poet or author reads to you from his …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Capitol Hill, Collections, History, LC Web site, Poetry, Preservation, Technology, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
The nation and the world are mourning the passing of civil-rights activist Julian Bond, who died on Saturday in Florida at age 75. Brought up in an intellectual family, he was a skinny, witty, articulate young man when he helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, in 1960, traveling around the south to …
Posted in: American Folklife Center, Collections, Congress, Education, Exhibitions, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Poetry
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Who the devil was Soapy Smith? Some would say the devil was Soapy Smith. He was a swindler, a con artist, a bunco steerer. In the 1880s and ’90s he fleeced rubes from Denver to Skagway, Alaska and at many points in-between. He was dubbed “Soapy” because an early con involved selling overpriced soap by …
Posted in: Books, History, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Newspapers, Photos, Poetry, Preservation
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
The late 19th century gave rise to some truly imaginative, public-minded Americans. We all know about the Thomas Edisons, the Henry Fords, the Garrett Morgans. But there were others who, while not household names today, lived very interesting lives and left behind fascinating legacies. Among these we find Dayton C. Miller, born on a farm …
Posted in: Collections, Concerts, Curators, Events, Exhibitions, LC Web site, Music, Preservation