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Category: Veterans History Project

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

Library of the Unexpected: Cocaine, Hair and…Wedding Cake?

Posted by: Neely Tucker

The Library of Congress has unexpected items in its vast collections -- the contents of Lincoln's pockets when he was assassinated; cocaine used in a groundbreaking 19th-century surgery; a lock of Beethoven's hair; 3,000 year old cuneiform tablets from modern-day Iraq; Mesoamerican incense burners that are more than 2,000 years old; and a piece of Tom Thumb's wedding cake, now nearly 160 years old.

Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Geography and Maps Division, Jay I. Kislak Collection, LCM, Preservation and Conservation, U.S. Presidents, Veterans History Project

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

War as They Saw It

Posted by: Neely Tucker

The Library's Veterans History Project houses thousands of photographs taken by U.S. soldiers. Joseph Beimfohr's photos let viewers peek into his war experiences in Iraq -- a time that included losing both legs in an explosion. The Library's latest research guide to military photos includes thousands taken in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Posted in: Photos, Veterans History Project