This post is by Robin Butterhof of the Library of Congress.
Describe what you do at the Library of Congress.
On a day-to-day basis, I’m reviewing digitized newspaper pages from across the United States for adherence to technical requirements. The newspaper pages, digitized as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint project of the Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and state cultural heritage institutions, are made available online through Chronicling America.
The program recently expanded to include newspapers from 1789-1963, so I’ve been fascinated by headlines about atomic bombs in the 1950s and George Washington’s schedule from 1789.“THE PRESIDENT has assigned every Tuesday and Friday, between the hours of two and three, for receiving visits . . . [visits] on other days . . . will not be agreeable to him.”
For the Great Depression, a North Carolina newspaper didn’t foresee the impact of the stock market crash of October 29,1929; on November 1, the paper wrote “No buildings were burned down, no industries have died, no mines, railroads, steel plants have vanished. Paper profits have been reduced to scraps of ticker tape. That’s all.”
What is your favorite item from the Library’s online collections?
The full-page “Radium and Beauty” ads, of course! “You—the modern woman—should know all about . . .what Radium is, what it does, and how it can be used as an aid to Beauty.” The ads are hilarious from today’s perspective—radium being used in makeup? But then I read heartbreaking stories of the “radium girls” who worked with the element before the dangers of radioactive materials were understood.
Share a time when an item from the Library’s collections sparked your curiosity.
I was working on a project to digitize the New National Era, a newspaper I’m really excited about as it was published by Frederick Douglass in D.C. during the Reconstruction era. In my review, I came across this description of Howard University (written only 5 years after the end of the Civil War, 3 years after Howard was founded): “Looking through the class rooms, walking through the ample grounds, listening to the cheerful voices, and beholding the bright faces, of girls and boys as they pass to and fro, you might be led to think that they were separated from slavery by a dozen centuries, and they had never known other than culture and refinement.”
Also on that page was an editorial supporting women’s suffrage and a scathing obituary for Robert E. Lee entitled “Death of a Perjured Traitor.” There are so many important issues on that single page; it brought the Reconstruction era and its sense of optimism and progress alive in a way that textbooks hadn’t.
Tell us about a memorable interaction with a Library user.
A teacher had contacted the Library via the Ask a Librarian service hoping to find an article criticizing the U.S.’s entry into World War I and its scrapping of its former isolationist position. That kind of article was difficult to find as most newspapers took a patriotic, pro-war stance after war was declared. However, before the start of the war, many articles arguing in favor of peace and neutrality were published. For example, William Jennings Bryan’s newspaper The Commoner did a complete about-face, from entreating the President to keep the country out of war in the March 1 issue to publishing Bryan’s offer of military service to President Wilson on April 6.
While searching the collections and finding an answer quickly is great, it’s both more satisfying and frustrating when you can’t find something. In some cases, it’s learning historical language, searching for “aeroplane” instead of “airplane” or “velocipede” instead of “bicycle.” And sometimes modern expectations of newspapers rub up against the reality of older newspapers. For example, the news of Lincoln’s assassination didn’t reach Columbia, S.C., until April 22, 8 days after it had occurred. If you were searching for Northern and Southern reactions to the news the day after the assassination, you would miss most of the local news coverage.
What’s one thing you’d like to tell teachers about the Library?
Even though many newspapers have been digitized, the sheer amount that’s been published means that many newspapers are still only found in microfilm format. If you have a specific title you’re interested in, it’s often possible to order the microfilm for a title as an interlibrary loan via your local public or academic library. And if you’re planning a trip to the Library in D.C., you can maximize your time here by exploring what’s available digitally and what’s available via interlibrary loan before you arrive. If you hit a wall with your research, you should contact the Library via Ask a Librarian!