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Posted by: Erin Allen
The Library of Congress will open a collection of approximately 1,000 pages of love letters between 29th U.S. President Warren G. Harding and his mistress, Carrie Fulton Phillips, on Tuesday, July 29. The collection has been locked in a vault in the Manuscript Division since its donation in 1972. The letters were written between 1910 …
Posted in: Collections, Events, History, Manuscripts
Posted by: Erin Allen
The Library of Congress welcomed Charles Wright as the institution’s 20th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2014-2015. Several major news outlets ran stories. “Our next poet laureate may end up speaking on behalf of the more private duties of the poet — contemplation, wisdom, searching — rather than public ones,” said reporter Craig Morgan …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Manuscripts, News, Newspapers, Poetry, Preservation, Video
Posted by: Erin Allen
On June 28, 1836, President James Madison passed away at age 85 – the last of the nation’s Founding Fathers. His public service had a symmetry to it. He had served in several positions, each for eight years: first as a member of Congress, followed by the same span as Secretary of State, then finally …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, History, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Today in History, Video, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
The story of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” for many decades, seemed as murky as the smoky haze over Fort McHenry on the morning two centuries ago when Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics that still inspire a nation. No one knew for sure who wrote the music. No one fully understood the circumstances of the tune’s creation (but, no, it wasn’t a …
Posted in: Collections, Concerts, Events, History, Manuscripts, Music, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
Pianist Alex Hassan’s passion is music, but not just any music – he lives to recreate the Tin Pan Alley melodies of the 1920 and 1930s. The classically trained musician, who says he is a pupil of pupil of a pupil of Franz Lizst, has, in his own words, “tunnel vision” for the popular musical …
Posted in: Collections, Manuscripts, Music, Researcher Stories, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
Inside Adams: Science, Technology and Business Oh, Oology! Caliology and oology are the study of bird nests and eggs, respectively. In the Muse: Performing Arts Blog Best Buddies, or Just Goethe Friends? Tchaikovsky and Brahms share a birthday, among other things. In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress I Could Not Accept Your Challenge to …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Blogging, Collections, Congress Blogs, Education, Law Library, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Music, Photos, Poetry, Science, Social Media, Technology
Posted by: Erin Allen
Civil Rights activist Roy Wilkins devoted his life to achieving equal rights under the law for the nation’s African Americans. The legacy of slavery, Roy Wilkins once wrote, divided African Americans into two camps: victims of bondage who suffered passively, hoping for a better day, and rebels who heaped coals of fire on everything that …
Posted in: Civil Rights, Collections, Exhibitions, History, Manuscripts, Photos, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
David A. Taylor is the author of “Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America” and writer and co-producer of the Smithsonian documentary, “Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story.” On Thursday, he joins others at the Library for an event marking the 75th anniversary of “These Are Our Lives,” a collection …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Books, Collections, Events, Folksonomies, Manuscripts, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Erin Allen
May marks Jewish American Heritage Month, and this year’s theme, designated by the Jewish American Heritage Month Coalition, honors the 100th anniversary of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). From its founding in 1914 to aid starving Jews in Palestine and Europe during World War I to life-saving rescues during war years to settling …
Posted in: Collections, History, Jewish American History, Manuscripts