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Posted by: Cait Miller
As they say, “time flies when you’re having fun,” and we certainly have fun here in the Music Division. It’s hard to believe that we’ve reached the end of September; school is back in session, temperatures are (or should be) cooling, and thoughts are turning to fall traditions from apple picking, to chunky sweaters, and …
Posted in: Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
I have had August 21 circled on my calendar since I first heard about the 2017 total solar eclipse. And when I get pumped about anything pop culture, what do I do? I delve into the Music Division’s collections for related collection material, of course! Let’s start with a piece of total eclipse history. On …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
On Friday, January 20, 2017, the Presidential Inauguration will take place and the President-elect will officially begin his duties as the 45th President of the United States. As we prepare for this political ritual, I thought it might be interesting to share some examples of music composed for and about specific presidential inaugurations from long …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
As a fan of the musical Hamilton, I’ve been listening to The Hamilton Mixtape non-stop since its release last Friday. The new album offers covers of numbers from the original cast recording, new tracks inspired by the musical, numbers cut from the show and even a couple of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s demo tracks. However, it occurs …
Posted in: Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Gershwin Archivist Janet McKinney. Janet presented a Curator Talk entitled “My Irish Song of Songs: Irish-American Identity in Popular Song and Musical Theater” on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 that was recorded for webcast and will be made available on the Library of Congress website in the coming months. …
Posted in: Curators, Guest bloggers, Holidays, Musical Theater, Sheet Music, Sound recordings, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from retired Senior Music Cataloger Sharon McKinley. African Americans have served in the armed forces of the American colonies and the United States since the North American continent began to be settled by Europeans and black slaves and freedmen arrived here. Blacks served in militias and the Continental Army, …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Special Collections
Posted by: Cait Miller
Happy National Doughnut Day! You may be ready to cash in for a free treat at your local doughnut shop, but are you familiar with the history behind this fun tradition? It stretches all the way back to World War I, when The Salvation Army decided that US soldiers overseas would benefit from the creation …
Posted in: Sheet Music
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post by Music Archivist Janet McKinney and Music Reference Specialist Lisa Shiota. May is National Bike Month, a time to showcase the many benefits of cycling. Today in DC it is also Bike to Work Day, where thousands of people in the metropolitan area hop on their bikes for the …
Posted in: Curators, Exhibitions, Sheet Music, Special Collections, Staff
Posted by: Cait Miller
The following is a guest post from Senior Music Specialist Ray White. “The dawn’s early light” on September 14, 2014, marked the 200th anniversary of the day that Francis Scott Key saw that “the star-spangled banner” was still waving “o’er” Fort McHenry. The story of that morning has been told many times in this anniversary …
Posted in: Guest bloggers, Sheet Music, Special Collections