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Posted by: Wendi Maloney
The Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022. This post describes the remarkable history of the building's planning, construction and final grand opening in 1897.
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, News, Thomas Jefferson Building
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Ida B. Wells was 30 years old in 1892, living in Memphis and working as a newspaper editor, when a mob lynched one of her friends. Distraught, the pioneering journalist set out to document the stories of lynching victims and disprove a commonly asserted justification — that the murders were a response to rape. Wells’ …
Posted in: African American History, Congress, Education, Geography and Maps Division, Junior Fellows Program, LCM, Library Work and Employees, Maps, Technology
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Every institution has its institutions, and one of the Library’s is John Hessler, who will retire from the Geography and Map Division at the end of this month. He holds many titles, official and unofficial. One of the official ones is curator of the Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Archaeology & History of the …
Posted in: Curators, Geography and Maps Division, Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library Work and Employees, Native Americans, News, Writers
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
A film researcher at the Library of Congress has stumbled across the first motion picture to be copyrighted.
Posted in: Film, Library Work and Employees, National Film Registry, News, Performing Arts, Preservation, Rare Book and Special Collections, Researcher Stories, Technology
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Ashley Jones is a visual information specialist in the Office of Communications. She designs the Library of Congress Magazine, the Gazette and other publications. Tell us about your background. I grew up in Baltimore County, Maryland. Art has always been a part of my life. I credit my elementary school art teacher with igniting my …
Posted in: LCM, Library Work and Employees, My Job
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia photographer, is believed to have taken the world's first self-portrait -- the first selfie -- in 1839. The Library, which already had the world's large collection of his work, in December acquired a donation from Cornelius’ great-great-grand-daughter, Sarah Bodine, of more of his photographic materials. Preservationists are now at work on the new donation.
Posted in: LCM, Library Work and Employees, Photos, Rare Book and Special Collections, Technology
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
The Library has dozens of 19th century animated toy theaters that were wildly popular in Europe and the United States, displaying dashing stories of pirates, undersea adventures, magic and adventure. Conservators have been painstakingly mending damage caused by historical use, making sure researchers can draw insights from the theaters for years to come.
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, Preservation, Preservation and Conservation, Rare Book and Special Collections, Theater
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Lesley Anderson is a 2021–22 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator at the Library. Here, she answers a Q&A about her research time.
Posted in: Education, Library Work and Employees, Researcher Stories, Science
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
We chat with Elizabeth Novara, historian of women and gender in the Manuscript Division, about her work. It's part of an ongoing series of librarians, their work and how they came to do it.
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, My Job, Women's History