In addition to making many of its extensive resources available on its award-winning Web site, the Library shared its collections with hundreds of thousands of national and international audiences through tours, onsite and traveling exhibitions, major publications, and special events and symposia, many of which were broadcast and later archived on the Library's Web site.
"Bleeding Flag," 2001 one of dozens of pieces in the Library's "Witness and Response" exhibition of 9/11-related materials. - Ziva Kronzen
The Library presented five new major exhibitions in the Thomas Jefferson Building in 2002. "Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at the Library of Congress" (Sept. 7, through Nov. 2) marked the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks by displaying selections from the collections that the Library amassed–and is still receiving–about this tragic day in history.
The Library mounted an exhibition titled "Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture" (Nov. 30, 2001, through May 31) to celebrate the centennial of the birth of the noted anthropologist, and honored theatrical producer and real estate entrepreneur Roger L. Stevens with an exhibition devoted to his life and career (May 16 through Sept. 7), titled "Roger L. Stevens Presents."
"When They Were Young: A Photographic Retrospective of Childhood" (Sept. 26 through March 22, 2003) featured images of children during the past 150 years by well-known photographers Dorothea Lange, Jack Delano and Marion Post Wolcott; and "American Beauties: Drawings from the Golden Age of Illustration" (June 27 through Nov. 2) showcased 19 early 20th century drawings of women selected from recent acquisitions and graphic art in the Library's Cabinet of American Illustration and the Swann Collection of Caricature and Cartoon in the Prints and Photographs Division.
In keeping with conservation and preservation standards, two rotational changes were made in the continuing "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" exhibition, three in "World Treasures of the Library of Congress," and two in the "Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment." Three major Library of Congress exhibitions, which toured nationally and internationally during the year were "The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention," "Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture" and "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic."
"Five Amish Children," ca. 1953 (left) and "Children, Frederick Douglass Housing Project," 1942 (right) were part of the "When They Were Young" photographic exhibition. - A. Aubrey Bodine and Gordon Parks
The Publishing Office produced more than 30 books, calendars and other products describing the Library's collections in 2002, many in cooperation with trade publishers. These included three companion exhibition books.
- The release of "Beginnings: World Treasures of the Library of Congress" marked a new series of titles to coincide with the continuing "World Treasures" exhibition. Published in association with Third Millennium Publishing, and with text by historian Michael Roth, "Beginnings" includes 145 color illustrations that mirror the items included in the companion exhibition.
- "Roger L. Stevens Presents," published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, includes five essays about the life and career of Stevens.
- Featuring text by child psychologist Robert Coles, "When They Were Young: A Photographic Retrospective of Childhood From the Library of Congress" was published by the Library in cooperation with Kales Publishing as a companion to the Library exhibition.
A companion book to the 2001 exhibition, "The Floating World of Ukiyo-e: Shadows, Dreams, and Substance," received honorable mention for design excellence in 2002 from the American Association of Museums.
This illustration by Benda Wladyslaw from 1918 was featured in the "American Beauties" exhibition; Margaret Mead conducting a group of three Arapesh men playing flutes in New Guinea, ca. 1932, from the exhibition "Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture." - Reo Fortune
The Library sponsored a number of symposia in 2002 on topics such as Abraham Lincoln, gospel music, and the Islamic world. A major symposium titled "The Civil War and American Memory" brought together historians, biographers and other Civil War scholars on Nov. 12-14 to consider important questions arising from this tumultuous period in history.
With the help of volunteers throughout the year and contractors during the peak spring and summer months, the Visitor Services Office conducted 3,982 tours for 112,423 visitors, including 654 tours for 13,214 congressional constituents from 444 Senate and House offices and 276 special-request tours (with an attendance of 5,787). A total of 3,328 public tours were attended by 94,086 visitors. More than 900 visitors took a new 20-minute tour of the Whittall Pavilion in March and April. In addition to tours, the office also arranged 202 programs for 1,504 visitors with professional interests in one or more aspects of the Library; they came from the United States and 53 other countries.
