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Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Senior Cataloging specialist Sharon McKinley. Sept. 29 marks the date in 1789 on which the U.S. Army was created by Congress. As a former civilian Army librarian, I have a soft spot in my heart for members of our military and their families. They are wonderful people to …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The Music Division has been busy this week. The Performing Arts Encyclopedia has just presented online collections both new (Franz Liszt, in honor of his bicentennial) and updated (fifteen composers and their works have been added to the American Choral Music presentation). But today we have a special announcement to make. The recipient of the 2012 …
Posted in: Composers, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week the MacArthur Foundation announced their list of this year’s Fellows, selected for ” their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.” Winners came from a variety of fields: clinical psychology, architecture, radio production, and poetry. Among the honored musicans is percussionist/composer Dafnis Prieto, who was a memorable part of …
Posted in: Composers, Interviews
Posted by: Pat Padua
September 19th was the birthday of two old friends of the Music Division. Jazz pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams was born September 19, 1930 in Chicago. He worked as a sideman behind such luminaries as Dexter Gordon and Max Roach, and was part of the 1970s jazz loft scene in New York, so named because of …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Jazz, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Senior Cataloging Specialist Sharrron McKinley. AAAARRRR! Ahoy, mateys! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Luckily you can’t see me, because I’m sporting a bandana, an eye patch, and a fake peg leg. Nah, just kidding! It’s a real peg leg. Almost anyone can relate to the romance …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
This week we recognize what would have been President William Taft’s 154th birthday by delving into the Library’s digitized collection of Presidential Campaign Songs. Taft was the 27th President of the United States, serving from 1909-1913. Note that this week’s Sheet Music of the Week, “President Taft, He’s All Right” with words and music by …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Sheet Music of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s Pic of the Week breaks one of the cardinal rules of Good Photography: show your subject. But if you recognize the face emerging from the ghostly apparition, it makes perfect sense. Jazz singer Mel Tormé was born on this day in 1925. He began his long career as a drummer for Chico Marx, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Head of Acquisitions & Processing Denise Gallo. On Sept. 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation stating “That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of …
Posted in: Sheet Music of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post from Senior Music Reference Specialist Kevin LaVine. Throughout the 1930s, as the developing Soviet state was liquidating Tsarist property in order to generate funding for its ambitious projects, Herbert Putnam, the Librarian of Congress at that time, seized the opportunity to purchase approximately 2800 volumes which were formerly held …
Posted in: Pic of the Week, Special Collections