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 …
Wanda Whitney, head of the Library's Local History & Genealogy Section, tells how using DNA research led to her discovery of a genetic mutation that had health implications for her entire family. It's part of the Library's Black History Month focus on families and health.
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.
The National Audio-Visual Conservation Center has found a never-before-seen home movie of the infamous Altamont Free Concert in 1969, during which a member of the Hell's Angels killed a member of the audience. The incident became a cultural turning point of the era.
Mark Eden Horowitz, a senior music specialist in the Music Division, recounts his long friendship with Stephen Sondheim and how the maestro's papers will come to the Library.
Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran, one of the treasures of the Library, is making its first-ever appearance in the Middle East this month, debuting at the glittering World Expo in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It will be featured in the U.S. Pavilion until the end of 2021.
John Y. Cole is the historian of the Library of Congress and the former director of the Library's Center for the Book. He began working at the Library in 1966 and is retiring this month.