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Category: Manuscripts

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

A Sense of Purpose: Organizing the Rosa Parks Collection

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post written by Meg McAleer, senior archives specialist in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.) Archivists have wonderful jobs. Four colleagues – Kimberly Owens, Tammi Taylor, Tracey Barton and Sherralyn McCoy – and I shared nods of understanding, delight and awe often during the last two months of 2014 as …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pinteresting African American History

Posted by: Erin Allen

February is African American History Month, an annual celebration that has existed since 1926. This year’s theme, according to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) is “A Century of Black Life, History and Culture.” This year also marks the centennial of ASALH, which was established in 1915 by Carter G. …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Buying a Library

Posted by: Erin Allen

Two hundred years ago today, President James Madison approved an act of Congress appropriating $23,590 for the purchase of a large collection of books belonging to Thomas Jefferson in order to reestablish the Library of Congress. Under Madison’s leadership, the United States went to war with Great Britain in 1812. After capturing Washington, D.C. in …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Library to the Rescue

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a story in the January/February 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) The Library of Congress has a long tradition of assisting other institutions in preserving their collections. Nearly a century after the Library of Congress collection was destroyed by a …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Conservator’s Picks: Treating Treasures

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a story in the January/February 2015 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Conservation Division chief Elmer Eusman discusses conservation treatment options for a variety of prized collection items. Pre-Columbian Objects “Collections such as this classic Maya whistling vessel, dated A.D 400-600, …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Inquiring Minds: The Document Man

Posted by: Erin Allen

Armed guards? Check. Secret rendezvous points? Check. Mysterious steel briefcase? Check. Sounds like a James Bond movie. But it’s just a day in the life of Christopher Woods, director of the National Conservation Service in Britain. By day, he’s a leading conservator in the field with more than 29 years experience working in the heritage …