A major new Library exhibition, “The Two Georges: Parallel Lives in an Age of Revolution,” uses original documents such as letters, diaries, maps, newspapers and political cartoons to shed light on striking likenesses between men long supposed to be polar opposites -- George Washington and King George III. The two opposed one another during the Revolutionary War, but actually shared many personal and leadership traits. The exhibit, a joint project between the Library of Congress and the Royal Archives, runs at the Library through next March. It is also online via the Library's website and in a companion book.
This winter, President Lincoln's Cottage in Washington, D.C., exhibited "Create to Free Yourselves: Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing Slaves in America," an installation by Georges Adéagbo. In creating it, Adéagbo visited the Library's Manuscript Division to research Lincoln's words and handwriting. Born in Benin, educated in Cote I and France, Adéagbo works internationally. Here, he talks about how he created the Lincoln project.
In this segment of a regular feature on authors who use the Library's collections, we interview Walter Stahr, a lawyer turned historian. His latest biography, published in 2022, is "Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln's Vital Rival," a look at the influential treasury secretary and later chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court during the mid 19th century.
All 23 sets of presidential papers held by the Library, a total of more than 3.3 million images, now are available and searchable online, an accomplishment more than two decades in the making.
Charles W. Calhoun, a history professor and author, has used the Library's collections for more than half a century in his work on studying late 19th century America.
Bestselling author Erik Larson starts research for many of his books at the Library of Congress. "There's always something of incredible value," he says in this interview.
This is a guest post by Julie Miller, a historian in the Library’s Manuscript Division. For both George Washington and King George III of England, the summer of 1788 began a year shaped by illness and worry. Even though the sources of their troubles differed, each George had reason to look anxiously across the Atlantic. …
Filmmaker Rocky Lang talks about how he recently teamed up with film historian Barbara Hall to publish “Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Moviemaking,” drawn on correspondence from several collections, including from the Library of Congress.
