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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 …
Posted in: Collections, History, Maps, Today in History
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 …
Posted in: Collections, Congress, History, Music, News, Newspapers, Today in History, Washington DC
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 …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, Congress, Education, Exhibitions, Folksonomies, History, Law Library, LC Web site, Maps, New Online, Today in History
Posted by: John Sayers
(The following post was written by Peter Armenti, literature specialist in the Library’s Digital Reference Section and a regular contributor to the poetry and literature blog, “From the Catbird Seat.”) For nearly 20 years, the Today in History feature has been one of the most popular areas of the Library of Congress website. Drawing heavily …
Posted in: Education, History, LC Web site, Today in History
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a feature in the July/August 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM, that was written by Audrey Fischer, magazine editor. You can read the issue in its entirety here.) Broadcasts of the Olympic Games bring the event to life for millions of viewers and leave a record behind for posterity. …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, Events, History, LCM, Today in History
Posted by: Erin Allen
Today, America celebrates its independence. Our founding fathers drafted and adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring America’s freedom from Great Britain and setting in motion universal human rights. While the colonies may have established it, “America” was given a name long before. America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer who set forth the …
Posted in: History, Maps, Today in History
Posted by: Erin Allen
The Library of Congress celebrates its 216th birthday on Sunday. Founded on April 24, 1800, thanks to an appropriation approved by Pres. John Adams of $5,000 for the purchase of “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.” What started with a whopping 740 books and three maps has evolved to more …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Collections, History, LC Web site, Pic of the Week, Thomas Jefferson Building, Today in History, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
“I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power …
Posted in: Collections, History, Manuscripts, Today in History, Women's History
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Levon Avdoyan, Armenian and Georgian area specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) The feast of Easter is arguably the holiest of holidays for the various Christian denominations but especially for the Eastern Churches – among those, the Armenian Church. For it, Easter Week (Avag Shabat, the …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Curators, Manuscripts, Today in History