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Posted by: Erin Allen
The Library of Congress is constantly in the process of improving its products and services to better assist its patrons, friends and researchers. Recently we launched a series of updates to the website, enabling users to find and use our online materials more easily. The Library’s main web search function has been improved. A new …
Posted in: Collections, LC Web site, Maps, News, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
From time to time, I’d like to blog about notable historical events or otherwise interesting advents in our nation’s past, courtesy of Today in History, which mines the American Memory collections to discover what happened in our nation’s history on each date throughout the year. Today’s “TIH” marks the day in 1917 the United States …
Posted in: Collections, History, LC Web site, Today in History, Uncategorized, Veterans History Project
Posted by: Erin Allen
April marks National Poetry Month, a time for poets and lovers of poetry everywhere to unite, recite and delight in the art and in those who have created it. The annual commemoration was inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. Some of my favorite poets include Byron, Tennyson, Yeats and Neruda. And I …
Posted in: Congress Blogs, Events, LC Web site, Poetry, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
A Nobel prizewinner, a paleontologist, a taxidermist, an ornithologist, a field naturalist, a conservationist, a big-game hunter, a naval historian, a biographer, an essayist, an editor, a critic, an orator, a civil-service reformer, a socialite, a patron of the arts, a colonel of the cavalry, a ranchman … the list goes on. Add to that …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, History, LC Web site, Manuscripts, Uncategorized, Video
Posted by: Erin Allen
Ayaka Isono lost her sight to a rare retinal disorder in 2001 at age 29 and, devastated, figured her career as a pianist was over. “I couldn’t see the score, I couldn’t work with conductors, I couldn’t play ensembles, I couldn’t write new music,” says Isono, who performed in chamber groups with some of the …
Posted in: Collections, Music, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
A bat in the belfry? Maybe. A tree growing in Brooklyn? Sure. A light in the attic? Of course. But, a dirigible in the Library’s Jefferson Building? It happened. Walking the institution’s resplendent halls, you come across lovely murals, elaborate ornamentation, gilded embellishments, and, as it turned out the other day, two rather large balloons …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Kluge Center, Thomas Jefferson Building, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
O setting sun! though the time has come, I still warble under you, if none else does, unmitigated adoration. ~ Walt Whitman, “Song at Sunset” This picture was taken from the sixth floor balcony of the James Madison Building recently, as the sun set over Washington, D.C., bathing the sky in a lovely peach hue. …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Photos, Pic of the Week, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
You may recall reading about some early audio recordings of Alexander Graham Bell being recently recovered. Thanks to Library of Congress technology, these recordings and others can now have a new life. The following is a story by Mark Hartsell, editor of the Library’s newsletter, The Gazette, on how the institution is working to accomplish …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
Soon all of Washington, D.C. will be blossom-crazy thanks to the upcoming National Cherry Blossom Festival – a signature event for the capital region – set for March 20 through April 27. This year, all the stops are being pulled out as the celebration marks the 100th anniversary of the gift of trees from Tokyo …
Posted in: Uncategorized