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Posted by: Erin Allen
Seventy-five years ago, the Library opened a second building on Capitol Hill to house its growing collections. With a collection of more than 3.5 million items, former Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam reported to Congress in 1926 that the nearly completed bookstack “will not be likely to take care of the accessions beyond the coming …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, History, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
This article, written by Susan Reyburn, writer-editor in the Publishing Office at the Library of Congress, is featured in the March-April 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. As major league baseball prepared to …
Posted in: Baseball, Collections, History, Manuscripts, Photos, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
Persian first gained prominence a thousand years ago, a language of literature, poetry and folklore that connected people across vast stretches of Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The Library of Congress today opens “A Thousand Years of the Persian Book,” the first major U.S. exhibition to make such a wide-ranging study of the Persian language and literature. The landmark exhibition features 75 items drawn …
Posted in: Collections, Curators, Events, Exhibitions, History, Manuscripts, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Erin Allen
I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits, A Poets pen all scorn I should thus wrong, For such despite they cast on Female wits: If what I do prove well, it won’t advance, They’l say it’s stoln, or else it was by chance. – Anne Bradstreet, 1678 …
Posted in: Books, Collections, Copyright, Curators, Events, History, Manuscripts, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Matthew Barton, curator of recorded sound in the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.) Last year, the Library of Congress acquired the first of more than 10,000 radio interviews conducted by Ron Barr, founder and host of radio’s Sports Byline USA. The interviews date from 1988 …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, Events, LC Web site, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
(The following is a guest post by Holly Krueger, head of the Paper Conservation Section of the Library of Congress Preservation Directorate.) Last December, the Library of Congress unveiled a remarkable drawing by the “outsider artist,” Martin Ramirez. The drawing depicts a Madonna figure standing on a blue globe surrounded by canyons filled with anthropomorphic …
Posted in: Collections, Exhibitions, Preservation, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
With the new year, the Library of Congress rang in lots of news. Here is a sampling of the headlines. The Library last month announced its acquisition of the collection of jazz great Max Roach. “Admiration, invective, scrutiny — the sense you get is of a man determined enough to take it all,” wrote Ben …
Posted in: News, Newspapers, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
The history of America is reflected through its songs. From changes to the “Star Spangled Banner” as played by different bands in different eras, to sheet music art documenting historical themes, the tapestry of American culture and life has been woven through music. New to the many online offerings of the Library of Congress is …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Collections, Education, History, LC Web site, Music, Uncategorized
Posted by: Erin Allen
Jazz’s greatest drummer once earned D’s in music in school, once wrote an essay entitled “I Hate Jazz” and once even launched a venture to break into the soft-drink market. The Library of Congress on Monday announced the acquisition of the papers of Max Roach, the groundbreaking drummer who helped birth bebop, the adventurous musician …
Posted in: Capitol Hill, Collections, Events, Manuscripts, Music, Uncategorized, Washington DC