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Posted by: Wendi Maloney
A film researcher at the Library of Congress has stumbled across the first motion picture to be copyrighted.
Posted in: Film, Library Work and Employees, National Film Registry, News, Performing Arts, Preservation, Rare Book and Special Collections, Researcher Stories, Technology
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Robert Cornelius, a Philadelphia photographer, is believed to have taken the world's first self-portrait -- the first selfie -- in 1839. The Library, which already had the world's large collection of his work, in December acquired a donation from Cornelius’ great-great-grand-daughter, Sarah Bodine, of more of his photographic materials. Preservationists are now at work on the new donation.
Posted in: LCM, Library Work and Employees, Photos, Rare Book and Special Collections, Technology
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
The Library has dozens of 19th century animated toy theaters that were wildly popular in Europe and the United States, displaying dashing stories of pirates, undersea adventures, magic and adventure. Conservators have been painstakingly mending damage caused by historical use, making sure researchers can draw insights from the theaters for years to come.
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, Preservation, Preservation and Conservation, Rare Book and Special Collections, Theater
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Library recently acquired Spanish surrealist Joan Miro's "Makemono," a 32-foot scroll artwork created in collaboration with French lithographer Aime Maeght in Paris in 1956.
Posted in: Hispanic and Latino, Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Ernest Shackleton, the famed polar explorer, was the first to print a book on the Antarctic continent. His "Aurora Australis," an anthology of writings by the crew and scientists during a 1907-1909 expedition, was printed in such dire conditions that the book covers were made from packing crates from the ship's pantry. Only 25 or so were made. The Library's copy has covers marked for "turtle soup" and "honey."
Posted in: Rare Book and Special Collections
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy” had been an epic religious and literary work for 150 years when a publisher in Florence attempted to do something that had never been done — illustrate it in a printed book. The year was 1481. Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing press was just 26 years old. Nicolaus Laurentii took on the …
Posted in: Library Work and Employees, Poetry, Rare Book and Special Collections, Writers
Posted by: Mark Hartsell
Lincoln’s original drafts of the Gettysburg Address, the diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, Walt Whitman’s notes for “Leaves of Grass,” the journals of Alexander Graham Bell documenting his invention of the telephone, Irving Berlin’s handwritten score for “God Bless America,” the papers of Rosa Parks, the diaries of Orville Wright chronicling the first powered flight — all were obtained by the Library via donation, gifts from citizens to the American public, making it truly an institution by and for the people.
Posted in: Civil War, Collections, Library Work and Employees, Rare Book and Special Collections