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Category: Today in History

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

This Day in History: Wright Brothers Take Flight

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

On a dark and windy morning on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, 114 years ago this Sunday, Orville Wright took flight in a tiny airplane he and his brother Wilbur had painstakingly constructed. The 605-pound craft flew all of 120 feet and remained airborne only 12 seconds. After Orville’s first success, Wilbur set the …

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

This Day in History: James Baldwin

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This post draws on an essay about Baldwin’s life and achievements by Alan Gevinson of the Library’s National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. James Baldwin was born 93 years ago today, on August 2, 1924, in New York City. His many novels include his first, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” (1953), considered an American classic. He …

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

What Time Is It?

Posted by: Erin Allen

With the recent “fall back” of daylight saving time, we had to reset our clocks and maybe our brains to get used to the change. And, if you’re someone that conducts business in different time zones, that adjustment can take additional getting used to. I know I always have trouble remembering how far ahead or behind …

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

Election Day Collection Coverage

Posted by: Erin Allen

Today, American citizens gather en masse to exercise their right to vote for the nation’s next president. This particular election will certainly go down in the history books as an interesting one. However, American presidential election history is full of choice moments. This election year hasn’t been the first to see name-calling and insults. In …

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

New Online: Today in History, Hispanic Heritage & Folklife Collections

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post by William Kellum, manager in the Library’s Web Services Division.)  Website Updates Today in History is an online presentation of historic events illustrated by items from the Library’s digital collections. First established in 1997, the site was migrated this month from the American Memory site to a new home …