Lizzo set the social media world afire last fall by playing, in concert, a short solo on a rare crystal flute that once belonged to President James Madison. The flute is one of the Library's most prized musical instruments and a showpiece of the collection of Dayton C. Miller, the famed physicist, astronomer and major flute aficionado. The collection, preserved in a vault at the Library, is not just the world’s largest of flute-related material, it is perhaps the largest collection on a single music subject ever assembled — and it’s what drew Lizzo to the Library in the first place.
American singer, rapper and songwriter Lizzo toured the Library's Dayton C. Miller flute collection and played one of the historical flutes during her Washington D.C. concert that week.
The National Film Registry's 2021 class is the most diverse in the program's 33-year history, including blockbusters such as "Return of the Jedi," "Selena" and "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring," but also the '70s midnight-movie favorite "Pink Flamingos" and a 1926 film featuring Black pilots in the daring new world of aviation, "The Flying Ace." The Library interviewed a dozen key players about their role in inducted films, including Mark Hamill, Edward James Olmos, John Waters, and documentary filmmakers Cheryl Dunye and Sylvia Morales.
LeVar Burton, fresh from a hosting "Jeopardy," turns his attention to hosting a special edition of the Library's 2021 National Book Festival, a one-hour special on PBS that is studded with some of the world's brightest literary stars.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris announced that National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman perform her poetry at the 59th Presidential Inaugural Swearing-In Ceremony, set to take place on Wednesday, January 20, on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.
Tune in on Instagram and Twitter to learn 19 stories you may not know from the Library of Congress, Smithsonian and National Archives. Every weekday from August 3 through Women's Equality Day, August 26, we're counting down from 19 to 1 with a new story each day on our Instagram and Twitter feeds.
Pablo Cartaya, author of the award-winning "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora," answers questions about his writitng in advance of an appearance at the National Book Festival on Aug. 31, 2019.
The Library of Congress, National Archives, and Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative team up for a series of exhibits marking the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.