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Posted by: Neely Tucker
"A Christmas Memory," Truman Capote's bittersweet short story about his small-town Alabama childhood with his eccentric elderly cousin, has been one of the nation's most beloved tales in the holiday canon since it was first published in 1956. The Library has Capote's handwritten draft of the story, which reveals much about the young Capote.
Posted in: Christmas, Manuscripts, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Library's collection of medieval manuscripts, many of them illustrated, show how the books were meant to be read and interacted with by readers of past centuries.
Posted in: LCM, Manuscripts, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Great American Road Trip -- traveling the highways and backroads of the nation -- has been a national tradition since the invention of the automobile.
Posted in: LCM, Manuscripts
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 …
Posted in: Influeza/Covid-19, Manuscripts, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Library is collaborating with the international initiative Fragmentarium.ms to help pioneer digital fragmentology, piecing together long-ago manuscripts that were torn apart or had fallen into pieces over the centuries. Fragmentarium is building an international community around the ability to identify, search, compare, and collect data on medieval manuscript fragments. What does that mean? For one, it means that libraries across the world can work together to create complete virtual reconstructions of Ege’s manuscripts. O
Posted in: Manuscripts, Preservation and Conservation, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, delivered as the Civil War was in its final weeks, was one of most important in American history, featuring the immortal line, "With malice toward none, with charity for all." Michelle Krowl, the Library's Civil War and Reconstruction historian, explains how the day unfolded in this short video.
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, History, Manuscripts, U.S. Presidents
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, uses George Washington’s 1789 copy of “Acts Passed at the First Congress of the United States of America,” which includes the U.S. Constitution, to tell a short story on how the presidential oath of office has been unchanged since the founding of the nation. It’s the same oath that …
Posted in: Collections, Manuscripts, U.S. Presidents