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

Veterans History Project in the News

Posted by: Erin Allen

As has been the case every year since its inception, the Veterans History Project receives an increased amount of media coverage during the Veterans Day season, both prior to and after the holiday. This year’s coverage included a segment on Washington’s NBC affiliate, NBC4, which aired on Nov. 8. The segment featured VHP Director Bob …

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

Abraham Lincoln’s “Blind Memorandum”

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post by Michelle Krowl, a historian in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division.) Could George B. McClellan have become the seventeenth President of the United States? It certainly appeared to be a possibility as Abraham Lincoln assessed the military and political landscape of the United States in the summer of …

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

Pic of the Week: En Pointe

Posted by: Erin Allen

Last week, the Library of Congress opened the exhibition “American Ballet Theatre: Touring the Globe for 75 Years,” which highlights the dance company’s distinguished history and its collection here at the Library. Shortly after the opening, ABT alum Sue Knapp-Steen (1969-1974) stopped by to view the exhibition and reminisce on her time as a professional dancer …

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

Global Gathering

Posted by: Erin Allen

The sun truly never sets on collecting at the Library of Congress. At any given hour, somewhere on the planet, an employee is acquiring material to add to the world’s largest library. Scattered across 11 time zones, from Brazil to Indonesia, the Library’s six field offices acquire hard- to-get publications from developing nations for its own collections and …

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

America’s Other Anthem

Posted by: Erin Allen

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea! Pikes Peak is one of America’s most famous mountains. Rising more than 14,000 feet, the mountain has been …

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

Bringing the “Banner” to Light

Posted by: Erin Allen

The story of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” for many decades, seemed as murky as the smoky haze over Fort McHenry on the morning two centuries ago when Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics that still inspire a nation. No one knew for sure who wrote the music. No one fully understood the circumstances of the tune’s creation (but, no, it wasn’t a …

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

The Library in History: Library Analyst Helped Launch NASA

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a story written by Cory V. Langley, a communications specialist in the Congressional Research Service, that is featured in the May – June 2014 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM, now available for download here. You can also view the archives of the Library’s former publication from 1993 to 2011. Amid fear and anxiety …

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

The Power of One: Roy Wilkins and the Civil Rights Movement

Posted by: Erin Allen

Civil Rights activist Roy Wilkins devoted his life to achieving equal rights under the law for the nation’s African Americans. The legacy of slavery, Roy Wilkins once wrote, divided African Americans into two camps: victims of bondage who suffered passively, hoping for a better day, and rebels who heaped coals of fire on everything that …