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Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Robert O’Meally spent two weeks in residence at the Library of Congress earlier this year researching all things jazz. He is the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University and an authority on Ralph Ellison and African-American literature. He is also an internationally recognized scholar of jazz and founder of …
Posted in: Music, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
For more than two centuries, American library architecture aspired to accommodate the physical dimensions of books and the furniture and spaces designed to store and display them. “American Libraries 1730–1950”—a new book by Kenneth Breisch—celebrates the history of that architecture, from classical temples to ivy-covered campus citadels to modern glass boxes—whose roofs now house more …
Posted in: Libraries, Photos, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Karl Schadow began his lifelong love affair with radio drama in the 1970s when, as a youth in Schenectady, New York, he became a fan of “CBS Radio Mystery Theater.” The program was a surprise hit between 1974 and 1982, appealing to an audience that included many who remembered radio drama fondly as a form …
Posted in: Collections, Manuscripts, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
An earlier version of this interview, conducted by John Fenn of the American Folklife Center, was published on “Folklife Today,” the center’s blog. A little over a decade ago, Brooklyn-based musician and promoter Eli Smith merged his passion for folk music with the inspiration he gets from fellow New York City artists and created the …
Posted in: American Folklife Center, Music, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
The following is a guest post by Todd S. Purdum, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, a senior writer at Politico and author of “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,” published this month by Henry Holt. For more about Broadway, keep an eye out for “Brilliant Broadway,” the May–June issue of LCM, the Library …
Posted in: Collections, Manuscripts, Music, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Carley Reinhard first encountered stories of slave capture in early 2017 in Professor Stephanie Shaw’s African-American history course at Ohio State University. Reinhard became fascinated by one narrative that tells of red cloth being used to entice Africans onto ships bound for North America. During Shaw’s course, Reinhard asked Shaw to serve as her adviser …
Posted in: Collections, Manuscripts, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
James McGrath Morris first came to the Library of Congress as a researcher in 1974. As a concerned citizen, he wanted to inform himself about a matter that was then in the news. President Richard Nixon had recently appointed Sen. William B. Saxbe of Ohio as attorney general to replace Elliot Richardson, who had resigned …
Posted in: Books, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Marina Amaral was studying international relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, when she first tried her hand at digitally colorizing a historical photograph. She had no formal background in art or photography, but since childhood she had enjoyed working with Photoshop in her free time. One day, while not feeling terribly …
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Collections, Photos, Researcher Stories
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Louise Arner Boyd was born in 1887 to wealth. Her father was a mining magnate who made millions in California’s Gold Rush; her mother came from one of New York’s distinguished families. Louise grew up in San Rafael, California, and San Francisco immersed in the activities of her milieu: horseback riding, hunting, socializing, charitable endeavors. …
Posted in: Researcher Stories, Women's History