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Posted by: Erin Allen
I remember the moment I found out that jolly old St. Nick was more an idea than a physical person shimmying down a chimney to deposit presents underneath the tree. First clue, we didn’t have a fireplace. I can’t remember exactly how old I was, probably elementary school age. The night before Christmas I could …
Posted in: Newspapers
Posted by: Erin Allen
What if Abraham Lincoln recorded his innermost thoughts as he moved toward the realization that he must end slavery? What if he lost that diary, but a recently discovered letter suggests that the diary is still out there? Such is the premise of “The Lincoln Letter” (Tor/Forge, 2012) by William Martin, his latest mystery novel …
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Books, Capitol Hill, Civil War, Collections, History, LC Web site, Newspapers, Researcher Stories, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
With the November opening of the new exhibition “The Civil War in America” only a month away, media outlets picked up on the announcement of a new blog featuring historical voices from the war. The Associated Press wrote an announcement that many outlets ran with, including The Washington Post, WTOP, military.com and various broadcast affiliates …
Posted in: Blogging, Civil War, Exhibitions, National Book Festival, News, Newspapers, Poetry, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
With Election Day upon us and votes soon to be counted, the nation waits with bated breath to see who our next president will be. Here in D.C., crowds gather in local bars and pubs, as if it were Monday Night Football, to catch the news of which candidate won what state and taking bets …
Posted in: Collections, History, News, Newspapers, Photos
Posted by: Erin Allen
(This is the third in a series of posts featuring presidential campaign items from the Library’s collections. Read the others here and here.) Every election year, as candidates go head to head during their campaigns, a new wave of vocabulary is born. Political idioms that have found their way into our lexicon include POTUS, left-wing, …
Posted in: Collections, History, News, Newspapers
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Old newspapers have acquired an iffy reputation over the years. We bemoan the trees that had to die to bring them into existence for their one day of glory; we dub them “mullet-wrappers” or note, as they do in the British Isles, that “Yesterday’s news is tomorrow’s fish-and-chip paper.” But old newspapers can be addictive! …
Posted in: Civil War, Education, History, LC Web site, Libraries, Newspapers, Preservation
Posted by: Erin Allen
With the announcement of the new Library website, congress.gov (you can read more about it here and here), media outlets in September were all over the story. The Washington Post’s Ideas & Innovations column called the site’s design a “boon” for mobile users, allowing those pages to expand or contract based on screen size. Other …
Posted in: National Book Festival, News, Newspapers
Posted by: Erin Allen
Leading the news headlines in July was the conveyance of the $1 million John W. Kluge Prize for the lifetime achievement in the study of humanity to Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil. He was honored in an awards ceremony for his study of the social structures of Brazilian government, economy and race relations …
Posted in: Kluge Center, News, Newspapers
Posted by: Erin Allen
Tonight the 2012 Olympics in London kick off. The excitement has certainly been building all year as enthusiasts have followed the torch relay and participating athletes and teams. I can admit that the games probably appeal to me for a few other different reasons than purely anticipating all the awesome competition. First, my favorite band, …
Posted in: Blogging, Collections, Congress Blogs, Events, LC Web site, Maps, Newspapers, Photos