Top of page

Category: Uncategorized

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

Sports Gold

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 …

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

Ten Thousand Treasures

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

The World Digital Library – a website of world cultural treasures offered free of charge in seven languages to anyone on the planet with access to the Internet – has put up its 10,000th offering. It was part of a package, actually – a group of rare manuscripts from the collections of the Walters Art …

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

Conservation Corner: Rare Drawing by Martin Ramirez Conserved and Unveiled

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 …

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

Library in the News: January 2014 Edition

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 …

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

American History, an-NOTE-tated

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 …

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

All That Jazz

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 …

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

Finding Our Place in the Cosmos with Carl Sagan

Posted by: Erin Allen

(Trevor Owens, digital archivist with the Library’s National Digital Information and Infrastructure Preservation Program and special curator for the Library of Congress science literacy initiative, contributed to this blog post.) “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself,” once said American astronomer Carl Sagan. Profoundly interested in the universe and our place in it, …

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

Remembering Pete Seeger

Posted by: Erin Allen

Folk singer, activist and friend of the Library of Congress Pete Seeger passed away Monday in Manhattan. He was 94. The Library’s American Folklife Center and the Music Division are home to multiple collections documenting Seeger and his family’s extraordinary musical accomplishments. (The following is a repost from the American Folklife Center blog, Folklife Today.) Pete …

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

Start a Holiday Tradition – Trace Your Family Genealogy

Posted by: Erin Allen

The Library of Congress has one of the world’s premier collections of U.S. and foreign genealogical and local historical publications. The Local History and Genealogy Reading Room, located in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, is the hub for such research. More than 50,000 genealogies and 100,000 local histories comprise its collections. The Library’s royalty, nobility …