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

Featured Item: Let’s Go Sledding!

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

To celebrate the season, we’re highlighting a historical advertisement for Star Toboggans on our home page this month. The colorful sledding scene is part of the Library’s Popular Graphic Arts Collection, which contains more than 15,000 historical prints published between 1700 and 1900. The prints depict images from everyday life, historical events, celebrities, popular destinations …

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

Rare Book of the Month: W.E.B. Du Bois’ Brownies

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

(This is a guest post by Elizabeth Gettins of the Library’s Digital Conversion Team.) This month’s rare book honors William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Bois, born Feb. 23, 1868. It features one of his most beloved creations, The Brownies’ Book, a serial published in 1920 and 1921. It is digitally presented here—22 back-to-back chronological issues. …

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

Coloring Inside the Lines

Posted by: Erin Allen

While the thought of going back in time to our awkward teenage years might fill most of us with abject horror, the carefree days of childhood may do just the opposite. Naptime and recess, even which crayon to use for coloring, reminds us of simpler times. Well, adults can pick back up their crayons – …

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

Congas, Sambas and Falling Plaster

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

I was 15 years old, sitting cross-legged next to my friend Mascha on a cork-tile floor at Mammoth Gardens, a roller-skating rink built in 1910. Plaster, occasionally, was falling from the ceiling – because the band on the stage that night was the drum-heavy Santana, which had just released its 1970 album “Abraxas.” That’s the …

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

Rare Book of the Month: A Suffragist “In the Kitchen”

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest blog post written by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.)  It’s the time of year when one’s thoughts turn to hearth and home in preparation for Thanksgiving. In honor of this quintessential American holiday, “In the Kitchen,” by Elizabeth Smith Miller, is the Rare Book of the Month. …

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

Under the Boardwalk

Posted by: Erin Allen

The travel and tourism industry owes itself to many historical “firsts.” In 1782, Scottish engineer James Watt invented the first steam engine able to turn wheels. On May 10, 1869, the completion of the first transcontinental railroad was commemorated with the driving of a “golden spike.” In 1794, the City Hotel opened in New York …

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

Inquiring Minds: How a New Walt Whitman Poem was Found at the Library of Congress

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a post written by Peter Armenti from the Poetry and Literature Center’s blog, From the Catbird Seat. Armenti spoke with a researcher who discovered a new Walt Whitman poem in the Library’s collections.) Walt Whitman enthusiasts were treated to a surprise last December when news broke that Wendy Katz, an associate professor …

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

We’ve Got Style

Posted by: Erin Allen

Every year, top fashion designers, style bloggers and journalists, celebrities and other movers and shakers gather in chic cities across the globe to showcase and check out the latest styles in clothing, accessories, hair and even makeup. Fashion shows for Autumn/Winter womenswear is usually held in February, with the Spring/Summer looks being exhibited in September. …