News from the Library of Congress

July 1998

  • July 20, 1998  (98-108)
    Library of Congress Publishes Genealogical Research Source Book Family Ties in England, Scotland, Wales, & Ireland: Sources for Genealogical Research, a 108-page guide, has been published to assist researchers who come to the Library of Congress or other large institutions with similar collections to research family roots in England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. The Library's collection of local history and genealogical material for the British Isles and Ireland is second only to...
    • Date: 1998-07-20
  • July 14, 1998  (98-107)
    Swann Foundation Announces Fellowship in Caricature and Cartoon The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, newly relocated from New York City to the Library of Congress, announces that it is now accepting applications for its graduate fellowship. The Swann Foundation awards one fellowship annually (with a stipend of $15,000) to assist ongoing scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Completed applications are due February...
    • Date: 1998-07-14
  • July 8, 1998  (98-103)
    Library of Congress Performing Arts Series Continues with a New Volume on Motion Pictures The Library of Congress has recently published a volume on its unique and comprehensive motion picture collections, Performing Arts: Motion Pictures. The articles are lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white images - frame enlargements, film stills, publicity shots, music manuscripts, and lobby cards - and are written by experts in the field. The volume covers topics ranging from Hollywood, German and Soviet films to...
    • Date: 1998-07-08
  • July 8, 1998  (98-105)
    National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Issues Report on Digital Talking Books Digital Talking Books: Planning for the Future, a 72-page report outlining both the scope of activity and steps required to develop digital talking books for America's talking-book program, has been released by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) of the Library of Congress. The report's seven articles provide details and discusses consumer involvement in technology planning and design.The 67-year-old...
    • Date: 1998-07-08
  • July 4, 1998  (98-104)
    Library of Congress Publishes Annual Report for 1997 The Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress for 1997 has just been released for public acquisition following its submission to Congress. The report, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1997, describes the Library's activities in Washington, D.C., and in national and international outreach programs. In transmitting the report to Congress, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington noted the Library's many historic milestones...
    • Date: 1998-07-04

June 1998

  • June 27, 1998  (98-098)
    American Children's Books on Display at Library A small exhibition of 20th century American children's books opens in the foyer of the Library's Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. on June 25; it will remain on view through January 2, 1999. Hours for the exhibition are 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday."From Sea to Shining Sea - An American Sampler: Children's Books from...
    • Date: 1998-06-27
  • June 22, 1998  (98-095)
    Library and ALA Agree, AACR2 To Be Incorporated into Cataloger's Desktop The Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) of the Library of Congress and the American Library Association (ALA) have signed an agreement to incorporate the Anglo- American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2), Second Edition (1998 Revision) into Cataloger's Desktop, CDS's one-disc CD-ROM cataloging tool. AACR2 is scheduled to first appear in Cataloger's Desktop in the last quarter of 1998."With AACR2 and the Library of Congress Rule Interpretations (LCRIs)...
    • Date: 1998-06-22
  • June 22, 1998  (98-096)
    Never-Before Printed Images From The Great Depression to World War II Go On-Line For years researchers have yearned to examine the thousands of negatives that were never printed for the internationally renowned Farm Security Administration (FSA)-Office of War Information (OWI) photographic collection. On June 26, they will be able to view nearly 45,000 printed and unprinted FSA-OWI images from 35mm film. The images can be viewed at the Library's American Memory Web site at http://www.loc.gov/."Individuals, educators and...
    • Date: 1998-06-22
  • June 22, 1998  (98-099)
    For the Love of Libraries Postcard Book Published Jefferson The Man: In His Own Words, edited by Robert C. Baron and published by Fulcrum Books in 1993 in association with the Library of Congress, is now available in paperback. This tribute to the nation's third president explores many different topics in Jefferson's own words, ranging from his ideas on exploration, science, freedom and democracy to his feelings about friends, family, books, education,...
    • Date: 1998-06-22
  • June 22, 1998  (98-100)
    For the Love of Libraries Postcard Book Published In cooperation with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Pomegranate Calendars & Books has published a book of 30 postcards, For the Love of Libraries, featuring photographs and anecdotes by Diane Asseo Griliches. The introduction is by Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole. The photographs, captions, and quotations in For the Love of Libraries are from the author's...
    • Date: 1998-06-22
  • June 22, 1998  (98-102)
    Exhibition of Oliphant Cartoons Extended to Aug. 15 The closing date for "Oliphant's Anthem: Pat Oliphant at the Library of Congress," an exhibition commemorating the Library's recent acquisition of 60 seminal works by one of America's foremost political cartoonists, has been extended to August 15. The exhibition, located in the South Gallery of the Great Hall in the Jefferson Building, was originally scheduled to close July 6. The exhibition is open from...
    • Date: 1998-06-22
  • June 19, 1998  (98-101)
    LC To Close Streets Saturday, June 20 Library of Congress police will close two streets on Saturday, June 20, to make way for electrical substation work.Second Street S.E. between East Capitol Street and Independence Avenue will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. Third Street S.E. between A Street and Independence Avenue will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians from 6 a.m. until noon...
    • Date: 1998-06-19
  • June 18, 1998  (98-084)
    Program on Library of Congress Artifacts and Archives Library of Congress staff members who contributed to the creation of the current exhibition, "The Thomas Jefferson Building: Book Palace of the American People," will participate in a program on Thursday, June 18, at 12 noon in the West Dining Room on the sixth floor of the Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. Speakers will include exhibit director Martha Hopkins, Frank Evina of the...
    • Date: 1998-06-18
  • June 16, 1998  (98-097)
    Roberta Stevens Named Program Manager for LC Bicentennial Commemoration Roberta Stevens, special assistant to the Director for National Services, Library Services, has been named program manager for the forthcoming commemoration of the Library's bicentennial in the year 2000. She will report directly to Chief of Staff Jo Ann Jenkins and John Y. Cole, Director of the Center for the Book, and work closely with the Library's Bicentennial Steering Committee."The goal of our bicentennial...
    • Date: 1998-06-16
  • June 4, 1998  (98-094)
    "Americas Award" for Literature To Be Presented at the Library of Congress on June 29 The 1997 Americas Award, which recognizes the creators of U.S. books "that engagingly relate to Latin America, the Caribbean, or U.S. Latino cultures," will be presented at 4 p.m. on Monday, June 29, in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building. The 1997 winners are Francisco Jimenez for his book, The Circuit (University of New Mexico Press, 1997),...
    • Date: 1998-06-04
  • June 3, 1998  (98-091)
    Jefferson Building to Become Literary Landmark In a ceremony on Neptune Plaza in front of the Library's Jefferson Building on Friday, June 26, the Friends of Libraries U.S.A. (FOLUSA) and the Center for the Book will designate the Thomas Jefferson Building as one of America's "literary landmarks." A program of readings at 10:30 a.m. will precede the ceremony, which will take place at 11 a.m. The program is free and...
    • Date: 1998-06-03
  • June 3, 1998  (98-093)
    Library History Round Table Marks 50th Anniversary Fifty years of promoting library history will be celebrated at the Library of Congress on Saturday, June 27, in a program at 2-5:30 p.m. in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building. Several prominent library historians will present remarks about the development of library history since the American Library Association's Library History Round Table was established in 1947....
    • Date: 1998-06-03
  • June 1, 1998  (98-092)
    Spanish Author Jose Mara Merino To Read Spanish author Jose Mara Merino will read from his works on Thursday, June 4, at 6:45 p.m. in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Building. The event, which is sponsored by the Embassy of Spain and the Library of Congress, is part of a series, "New Literature from Europe."Jose Mara Merino was born in 1941 in La Corua, Spain, and lives in Madrid. His...
    • Date: 1998-06-01

May 1998

  • May 29, 1998  (98-033)
    Major Religion Exhibition to Open at the Library of Congress On June 4, the Library of Congress will open a major exhibition, "Religion and the Founding of the American Republic," in the Northwest Gallery of the recently restored Thomas Jefferson Building. It will be on view through August 22.A symposium celebrating the opening of the exhibition will be held in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Jefferson Building on June 18-19 that will explore many...
    • Date: 1998-05-29
  • May 28, 1998  (98-088)
    Declaration of Independence Rough Draft Again on View in "Treasures" Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence will go on display June 19 in "American Treasures of the Library of Congress," a permanent, rotating exhibition that features different significant documents every three months, giving the public the opportunity to experience the richness and diversity of the Library's American historical collections. The Declaration of Independence draft was also displayed last summer.The draft, in...
    • Date: 1998-05-28
  • May 28, 1998  (98-089)
    May 29 Concert Features Alan Jabbour, Stephen Wade The Music Division and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress will present a free concert of traditional fiddle and banjo, tunes from the Appalachians performed by Alan Jabbour, violin, and Stephen Wade, banjo on Friday, May 29, at noon in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E. The concert is the final event in a special spring...
    • Date: 1998-05-28
  • May 28, 1998  (98-086)
    Library of Congress Names American Memory Fellows The National Digital Library Program of the Library of Congress has announced the selection of 50 educators to participate in the 1998 American Memory Fellows Program. The program is an opportunity for teams of outstanding middle and high school humanities teachers and library/media specialists to improve the teaching of American history and culture in their schools by using digitized primary sources from the Library."This...
    • Date: 1998-05-28
  • May 27, 1998  (98-085)
    Bezalel Narkiss To Speak on "Zionism and Art" As part of its celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, the Library of Congress will host a lecture on "Zionism and Art" by Bezalel Narkiss on June 17 at 6 p.m. The presentation will be accompanied by a selection of posters from "Zionism: Images of a State in the Making," an exhibition by the Central Zionist Archives...
    • Date: 1998-05-27
  • May 27, 1998  (98-090)
    May 29 Concert Features Alan Jabbour, Stephen Wade The Music Division and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress will present a free concert of traditional fiddle and banjo, tunes from the Appalachians performed by Alan Jabbour, violin, and Stephen Wade, banjo on Friday, May 29, at noon in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E. The concert is the final event in a special spring...
    • Date: 1998-05-27
  • May 27, 1998  (98-087)
    Packard Foundation Grants $10 Million To Establish National Audio-Visual Conservation Center Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced today that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has given the Library a grant of $10 million to begin development of a state-of-the-art National Audio-Visual Conservation Center on a site near Culpeper, Virginia.The grant includes funds for the Foundation to acquire, on behalf of the Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol, the 140,078-square-foot building...
    • Date: 1998-05-27
  • May 21, 1998  (98-078)
    Book on 1814 Burning of Washington To Be Discussed Writer and historian Anthony S. Pitch will discuss his latest book, The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 (Naval Institute Press, 1998), at the Library of Congress on Tuesday, July 28, at 6 p.m. in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. The event is free and open to the public.Co-sponsored by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society and...
    • Date: 1998-05-21
  • May 21, 1998  (98-079)
    Robert Pinsky Reappointed Poet Laureate Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced that Robert Pinsky has accepted his invitation to serve a second year as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress."In his first term, Robert Pinsky has actively encouraged a national renaissance of spoken poetry," said Dr. Billington. "His vision of recording a broad cross section of Americans reading their favorite poems has met with...
    • Date: 1998-05-21
  • May 21, 1998  (98-080)
    Library of Congress Awards ILS Automation Contract As part of the most massive library automation effort in its history, the Library of Congress has awarded a contract to Endeavor Information Systems of Des Plaines, Ill., to provide comprehensive integrated library system (ILS) software and support to the Library."This is a momentous occasion in the history of the Library," said James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress. "It marks our transition to a...
    • Date: 1998-05-21
  • May 21, 1998  (98-081)
    Library of Congress Announces Next Mellon Foreign Area Fellowship Awards The Library's Office of Scholarly Programs has announced the awarding of grants for the second Mellon Foreign Area Fellowship competition. The postdoctoral fellowships, made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, were designed to support research that uses the Library's unrivaled foreign-language and area-studies collections. The fellowships will help less well- established American scholars as they embark on a second major research topic following...
    • Date: 1998-05-21
  • May 21, 1998  (98-082)
    Library of Congress Announces Next Mellon Foreign Area Fellowship Awards The Library's Office of Scholarly Programs has announced the awarding of grants for the second Mellon Foreign Area Fellowship competition. The postdoctoral fellowships, made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, were designed to support research that uses the Library's unrivaled foreign-language and area-studies collections. The fellowships will help less well- established American scholars as they embark on a second major research topic following...
    • Date: 1998-05-21
  • May 21, 1998  (98-083)
    Vermont, Oklahoma Win Boorstin Center for the Book Awards On May 4, Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole presented the 1998 Boorstin Center for the Book Awards to the Vermont and the Oklahoma Centers for the Book. Each of the annual awards includes a cash prize of $5,000.The National Award, won by the Vermont Center for the Book, recognizes the contribution that a state center has made to the Center for...
    • Date: 1998-05-21
  • May 13, 1998  (98-076)
    Kresh Named Director for Public Service Collections Associate Librarian for Library Services Winston Tabb has announced the appointment of Diane Kresh as Director of Public Service Collections. Ms Kresh has served as acting director since August 1996."Diane Kresh is well known to Library of Congress staff through her exceptional service as acting director for the past one and a half years and also through her service in many parts of the...
    • Date: 1998-05-13
  • May 13, 1998  (98-077)
    Library of Congress Seeks Nominations for 1998 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt Poetry Prize The 1998 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry of the Library of Congress will be presented in October 1998 for the best book of poetry published by a living United States author during the preceding two years, 1996 or 1997.The first of these biennial prizes, presented in even-numbered years, was awarded to James Merrill in 1990 for his collection The Inner Room; the...
    • Date: 1998-05-13
  • May 8, 1998  (98-074)
    Type Designer Matthew Carter to Lecture on May 19 Master type designer Matthew Carter will present a talk, "Why a Serif? From Classical to Unreadable," at the Library of Congress on Tuesday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. The program is co-sponsored by the Center for the Book and the Washington chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). For ticket...
    • Date: 1998-05-08
  • May 4, 1998  (98-064)
    Library of Congress Acquires Martha Graham Archives The Library of Congress has just agreed to purchase the Martha Graham dance archives from the Martha Graham Trust as one component of a longer term relationship with the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.The other two components of this new relationship are: (1) an agreement with the Martha Graham Trust for the Martha Graham Dance Company to perform a new piece based on...
    • Date: 1998-05-04
  • May 1, 1998  (98-070)
    Library Police to Close Streets May 2 Library of Congress police will close two streets on Saturday, May 2 to make way for electrical substation work.Second Street S.E., between East Capitol Street and Independence Avenue, will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians from 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. Third Street S.E., between A Street and Independence Avenue, will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians from 6 a.m. until noon...
    • Date: 1998-05-01
  • May 1, 1998  (98-071)
    Time of Tipper Gore's Speech Changed Tipper Gore will give the keynote address at a neuroscience conference at the Library of Congress May 6 at 11:30 a.m., not 9 a.m. as announced previously.As mental health policy adviser to the President, Mrs. Gore has worked to educate the public and eradicate the stigma associated with mental illness.Leading neuroscientists will discuss their research at the conference, "Discovering Our Selves: The Science of...
    • Date: 1998-05-01

April 1998

  • April 29, 1998  (98-062)
    Library of Congress and Information Handling Services Agree to Expand and Automate Technical Resources The Library of Congress and Information Handling Services (IHS) recently concluded a memorandum of understanding that will result in the automation and expansion of technical information now available from the Library.Under the terms of the new arrangement, the Technical Reports Section of the Library's Science and Technology Division will:Change all its standards and military data collections from the current film-based services to an electronic-delivery...
    • Date: 1998-04-29
  • April 28, 1998  (98-059)
    Second Round of Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Awards Announced Eleven libraries, museums and historical societies from across the United States today have received seven awards totaling more than $540,000 through a partnership between the Library of Congress and Ameritech to digitize historically significant American collections and make them freely available on the Internet (a list of winners follows).The Library of Congress/Ameritech National Digital Library Competition, a three-year program made possible by a $2...
    • Date: 1998-04-28
  • April 27, 1998  (98-069)
    Library of Congress to Host Conference on National Libraries As part of the commemoration of its Bicentennial in the year 2000, the Library of Congress will host a conference, "National Libraries: Interpreting the Past, Shaping the Future," on Oct. 23-27, 2000. The co-chairs are Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services, and John Y. Cole, Director of the Center for the Book. Co-sponsors include the American Library Association's Library History Round Table, and...
    • Date: 1998-04-27
  • April 27, 1998  (98-068)
    Library of Congress to Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage WHO: Acting Assistant Attorney General Bill Lann LeeWHAT: Will give a keynote address, "Pursuing Progress: Achievements and Challenges"WHEN: 10 a.m. May 12WHERE: Mumford Room, James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.WHY: For the Library's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebrationThe speech, which will focus on civil rights for Asian Americans, is free and open to the public, and neither tickets nor reservations are required....
    • Date: 1998-04-27
  • April 22, 1998  (98-067)
    National Digital Library Competition Winners to Be Announced Announcements to Be Made During Telephone News ConferenceWHEN: Tuesday, April 28, at 2 p.m. EDT; 1 pm. CDT; 12 p.m. MDT; and 11 a.m. PDT.WHO: James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress Lana Porter, President, Ameritech Library Services George Farr, Director of the Division of Preservation and Access, National Endowment for the HumanitiesWHAT: Announcement of the second round of winners in the Library of Congress/Ameritech...
    • Date: 1998-04-22
  • April 21, 1998  (98-063)
    Poet Laureate Consultant Robert Pinsky to Read at the Library of Congress May 7 Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry Robert Pinsky will close the 1997-98 literary series at the Library of Congress with a reading from his work May 7 in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. The reading will begin at 6:45 p.m. Tickets and reservations are not required.Mr. Pinsky teaches in the graduate creative writing...
    • Date: 1998-04-21
  • April 21, 1998  (98-065)
    Robert Hass to Present Student "River of Words" Poetry and Art Awards On May 2, the Center for the Book, in cooperation with the International Rivers Network, will host the 1998 student winners of the "River of Words" national environmental poetry and art contest for young people. At 3 p.m. in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, project co-founder and former U.S. Poet Laureate (1995-1997) Robert Hass will present...
    • Date: 1998-04-21
  • April 20, 1998  (98-027)
    Major Freud Exhibition to Open October 15 PRESS PREVIEW Thursday, October 8 at 11 a.m. Thomas Jefferson Building 10 First Street, S.E."Sigmund Freud: Conflict and Culture," a major exhibition tracing the influence of Freud and psychoanalysis on 20th-century culture, will open at the Library of Congress on October 15 in the Northwest Curtain of the Jefferson Building and close January 16.Originally scheduled to open in the fall of 1996, the exhibition...
    • Date: 1998-04-20
  • April 16, 1998  (98-061)
    Events at the Library of Congress: May-June 1998 May - June 1998(Events Subject to Change)ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLICMay 1 Friday CONFERENCEThe European Division and the American Romanian Academy sponsor a one-day conference on "Romanian-American Connections in History and Literature" in the Librarian's Reception Room, LJ 119 of the Jefferson Building, from 10:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. The morning panel discussion focuses on "Imaginative Intercrossings: American and Romanian...
    • Date: 1998-04-16
  • April 10, 1998  (98-055)
    Shlomo Aronson to Speak at Library of Congress To Mark Israel's 50th Anniversary The Library of Congress will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel with a lecture on "The Holocaust and the Founding of the State of Israel," by Hebrew University Professor of Political Science Shlomo Aronson on April 22 at 6:00 p.m.Professor Aronson, who has written and lectured extensively on the Holocaust, is a visiting scholar at the Library of...
    • Date: 1998-04-10
  • April 10, 1998  (98-066)
    Greek Novelist Nicholas Papandreou To Read at Library of Congress Greek novelist Nicholas Papandreou will read from his works at 6:45 p.m. May 13 in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the Library of Congress James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. The reading is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.Mr. Papandreou was born in 1956 in San Francisco to a family of prominent Greek politicians and...
    • Date: 1998-04-10
  • April 9, 1998  (98-060)
    Author Taylor Branch to Discuss Latest Book Writer and historian Taylor Branch will discuss his latest book, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1965, at the Library of Congress on Thursday, June 18, at 6 p.m in the Mumford Room, sixth floor, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. The event, co-sponsored by the Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Division and the Center for the Book's "Books & Beyond" series,...
    • Date: 1998-04-09
  • April 8, 1998  (98-054)
    Winston Tabb to Receive Melvil Dewey Medal Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress and a 25-year Library veteran, will receive the Melvil Dewey medal from the American Library Association (ALA) at its annual convention in Washington this summer.The award will be presented in the Library's Great Hall during the inauguration ceremony for the new ALA president, Ann K. Symons. The ALA Annual Conference runs from...
    • Date: 1998-04-08