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Category: Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Unexpected (and Illustrated) Dante

Posted by: Neely Tucker

Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” had been an epic religious and literary work for 150 years when a publisher in Florence attempted to do something that had never been done — illustrate it in a printed book. The year was 1481. Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing press was just 26 years old. Nicolaus Laurentii took on the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Building the Library’s Collections: From (and for) The People

Posted by: Mark Hartsell

Lincoln’s original drafts of the Gettysburg Address, the diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, Walt Whitman’s notes for “Leaves of Grass,” the journals of Alexander Graham Bell documenting his invention of the telephone, Irving Berlin’s handwritten score for “God Bless America,” the papers of Rosa Parks, the diaries of Orville Wright chronicling the first powered flight — all were obtained by the Library via donation, gifts from citizens to the American public, making it truly an institution by and for the people.

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Medieval Pandemic Cures That Were…Medieval

Posted by: Neely Tucker

This intriguing look into the medical practices of Europe some 600 years ago was written by Andrew Gaudio, a reference librarian in the Researcher and Reference Services Division. As the world grapples with containing the COVID-19 pandemic with a range of vaccines, each with varying rates of effectiveness, it’s worth remembering that cure-alls for deadly …