Arlene Balkansky loves working with the full range of people visiting Newspaper and Current Periodical reading room, whether on-site or remotely: the teenager working on a National History Day project, the family interested in comic books, the university student, the teacher participating in the Library’s Summer Teacher Institute, the genealogist, the professor, the filmmaker, the author, and more.
I am the Director of the Veterans History Project, part of the American Folklife Center, at the Library of Congress. VHP's mission is to gather the oral histories of veterans and ensure they are accessible so current researchers and future generations understand what they saw, did and felt during their selfless service to our nation.
On January 18, 2017, Anne Savage of the Library of Congress Educational Outreach team packed up her rolling bag and headed out into the wonderful world of retirement.
Earlier this month, I spoke with Dr. Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, about a wide variety of topics. As I kicked off our conversation, I was thinking about the first activity I do with my new kindergartners each fall. We engage in a show and tell of items in the students’ backpacks. This one activity gives me an awareness and understanding of the boys and girls unlike any other.
One of the biggest reasons I love working at the Library of Congress is that my curiosity is sparked on a daily basis. Most recently, I have been fascinated by the music manuscripts of the early American composer Anthony Philip Heinrich (1781-1861). He was one of the first professional composers in the United States and was known as the “Beethoven of America.”
In my first Multimedia Moment post, I focused on the action in actuality street scenes. One of the films, the 1897 Edison film Corner of Madison and State Streets, Chicago, showed people walking across the street with large signs that appeared to be advertisements. I instantly wanted to know what was written on the signs.
What makes a fairy tale a fairy tale? Many students in younger grades read them. They both listen to them and study them as a class. Fairy tale recordings in the National Jukebox can help students explore common elements of fairy tales, which can give them a grounding for deeper study.
Various national awards celebrate authors in January, and January can also be a great time to learn more about hundreds of writers and their work by exploring videos of author talks from past National Book Festivals offered by the Library of Congress.