News from the Library of Congress

December 2017

November 2017

  • November 30, 2017  (17-177)
    Librarian of Congress Presents Holiday Story Time The Library of Congress will host a special edition of the Young Readers Center weekly story time with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building, on Friday, Dec. 8 at 10:30 a.m.Hayden, who started her career as a children’s librarian, will read a selection from the beloved Paddington Bear series. Families with children of all ages are...
    • Date: 2017-11-30
  • November 29, 2017  (17-173)
    Kluge Fellow To Present Cutting-Edge Research on Social Media and Politics Kluge Fellow Todd L. Belt will share his findings on the impact of social media on attitudes, behaviors and voter choices in an afternoon lecture at the Library of Congress titled, “How Effective is Social Media, Really?”The lecture will be held at 4 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 14 in the Thomas Jefferson Building, Room 119, located at 10 First St. SE, Washington, D.C. The event...
    • Date: 2017-11-29
  • November 21, 2017  (17-155)
    Library of Congress Acquires Extremely Rare Mesoamerican Codex The Library of Congress has acquired the Codex Quetzalecatzin, one of the very few Mesoamerican manuscripts to survive from the 16th century. After being in private collections for more than 100 years, the codex has been digitally preserved and made available online for the first time to the general public at loc.gov/resource/g4701g.ct009133/.The codex, also known as the Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, represents one of the...
    • Date: 2017-11-21
  • November 17, 2017  (17-157)
    Library of Congress Launches Three New Educational Apps The Library of Congress, in collaboration with various educational organizations, today announced the launch of three web- and mobile-based applications related to Congress and civic participation for use in K-12 classrooms.From stepping behind the camera with photographers who fought against child labor to building a timeline that traces African Americans’ journey towards freedom, students are able to do all these things and more using...
    • Date: 2017-11-17
  • November 15, 2017  (17-172)
    Tony Bennett Honored in Star-Studded Gershwin Prize Tribute Celebrated performer Tony Bennett, the 2017 recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, will be applauded and serenaded by some of the nation’s top artists at an all-star celebration in the nation’s capital Wednesday evening, Nov. 15. The diverse group of performers will pay homage to Bennett’s extraordinary gift as an interpreter of America’s songbook—showcasing some his most memorable songs—at...
    • Date: 2017-11-15
  • November 13, 2017  (17-170)
    Double Features, Musicals and Hollywood Stars on Screen at Packard Campus Theater During double feature December, the Library’s Packard Campus will showcase pairs of films from the 1930s that feature great directors, Western cinematography, leading ladies and iconic romances. Titles include King Vidor’s New York City drama “Street Scene” paired with William A. Wellman’s rarely seen “Stingaree” and “Love Affair,” starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer, paired with Cary Grant in the British romantic comedy “Romance...
    • Date: 2017-11-13
  • November 13, 2017  (17-169)
    Library to Host Symposium on Early Research of Papers of King George III Scholars who were recently among the first to examine the papers of King George III, the English monarch in power when the American colonies declared independence, in the Georgian Papers at England’s Windsor Castle will reveal their early findings in a symposium Friday, Dec. 1 at 2 p.m., at the Library of Congress.The event is free, but tickets are required. To secure tickets, visit...
    • Date: 2017-11-13
  • November 8, 2017  (17-168)
    Papers of Abraham Lincoln Now Online in Full Color Abraham Lincoln’s papers from his time as a lawyer, congressman and the 16th president are now online in full color in a new presentation after a multi-year digitization effort at the Library of Congress.The Library holds a collection of more than 40,000 Lincoln documents dating from 1774 through Lincoln’s presidency and beyond, including materials from his campaigns, Lincoln’s first and second inaugural addresses and...
    • Date: 2017-11-08
  • November 8, 2017  (17-A07)
    Hours of Operation, Nov. 10-11 On Friday, November 10th, the Jefferson Building Great Hall and exhibitions at the Library of Congress will be open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in observance of the Veterans Day holiday. All reading rooms and the Madison and Adams Buildings will be closed to the public for the federal holiday.On Saturday, November 11, the Great Hall, exhibitions and the Library...
    • Date: 2017-11-08
  • November 7, 2017  (17-149)
    Veterans History Project Launches Web Feature Recognizing Medal of Honor Recipients The Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched its latest “Experiencing War” website feature, titled “Stories Above and Beyond: The Medal of Honor,” which offers access to nearly 150 digitized collections of Medal of Honor recipients. The veterans’ service spans World War II to the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each collection uniquely illustrates the evident courage and intrepidity of these...
    • Date: 2017-11-07
  • November 6, 2017  (17-139)
    New Chief for the Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Division Announced Kimberley Bugg, a librarian dedicated to the users of research services, has been named chief of the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) Division at the Library of Congress. Bugg has experience managing and coordinating all aspects of reference work at several academic libraries, including the Robert W. Woodruff Library (2006-2010), Villanova University (2011-2014) and the College of Technology—City University of New York (2014-2017). Bugg’s...
    • Date: 2017-11-06
  • November 3, 2017  (17-166)
    Library Acquires Archives of Iconic Talk Show Host Dick Cavett With a career spanning more than 50 years, legendary TV personality Dick Cavett is recognized as one of the most cultured and savvy talk-show hosts in the history of television. The Library of Congress announced today that Cavett has donated 2,500 programs of his decades-long talk-show series—showcasing some of the golden moments in television—to the American people. The collection totals nearly 2,000 hours of...
    • Date: 2017-11-03
  • November 3, 2017  (17-167)
    Library and WGBH Acquire Historic TV Coverage of Senate Watergate Hearings The Library of Congress and Boston public broadcaster WGBH announced today that gavel-to-gavel television coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973, donated to the Library by WETA Washington, D.C., has been digitally preserved and made available online. Produced by the National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT), the hearings were taped during the day and rebroadcast every evening on public television for 51...
    • Date: 2017-11-03
  • November 1, 2017  (17-163)
    Library Symposium on Geographic Information Systems The Library of Congress will celebrate GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Day on Nov. 14 with an all-day series of talks on the use of GIS technology in the federal government and academia.The discussions will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14, in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.,...
    • Date: 2017-11-01

October 2017

  • October 31, 2017  (17-164)
    Families Are Invited to Spend the Holidays with the Library The Library of Congress wants to be included in everyone’s family holiday plans. Over the next few weeks, the Library will be hosting events suitable for learners of all ages.The holiday events are the latest in expanded programming at the Library. Since being sworn in last September, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has opened the Librarian’s Ceremonial Office to visitors, expanded hours at the...
    • Date: 2017-10-31
  • October 30, 2017  (17-162)
    Kluge Center Lectures to Explore Early Mapping in China, Persia The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress in November will host lectures and public dialogues on the topic of mapping in ancient Chinese and Persian cultures.Dr. Xin Conan-Wu, an associate professor of art and art history at the College of William and Mary will deliver a lecture entitled “Mapping the Landscape: Vision, Memory and Place-Making” on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 4...
    • Date: 2017-10-30
  • October 27, 2017  (17-165)
    Library to Open "Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists" Original works by women cartoonists and illustrators are featured in a new exhibition opening at the Library of Congress on Nov. 18. Spanning the late 1800s to the present, “Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists” brings to light remarkable but little-known contributions made by North American women to these art forms.In fields traditionally dominated by men, many women have long earned their...
    • Date: 2017-10-27
  • October 27, 2017  (17-161)
    Library Marks the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation The Library of Congress will host two lectures and a display marking the quincentennial of the Reformation. Oct. 31, 2017, marks the 500th year since Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany – the start of the Reformation movement. In the run-up to this year’s observation of the anniversary, a consortium of German and American partners collaborated to...
    • Date: 2017-10-27
  • October 24, 2017  (17-144)
    Library of Congress Kicks Off Writing Competition for Young Readers The Letters About Literature program kicks off its 25th annual competition, run by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, with a special webinar for educators interested in learning more about the program and how to use it in a classroom on October 25, 2017 at 4 p.m. The program invites readers in grades four through 12 to share letters they...
    • Date: 2017-10-24
  • October 24, 2017  (17-A06)
    Jefferson Building to Close Early Nov. 1 On Wednesday, Nov. 1, the Great Hall, all exhibitions and the Library Shop in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress will close to the public at 3 p.m. for a special event.Additionally, the West Main doors and the Capitol Visitors Center tunnel will be closed to the general public and researchers.Researchers with Library issued credentials may access the Jefferson Building reading...
    • Date: 2017-10-24
  • October 23, 2017  (17-156)
    Swann Foundation Announces Award Fellowships for 2017-2018 The Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, administered by the Library of Congress, is awarding fellowships to four applicants for the academic year 2017-2018. Recipients are affiliated with Fordham, Boston and Cornell universities and The Graduate Center at New York University.Olivia Badoi, a doctoral candidate in English at Fordham University, is investigating the relationships among the genres of the woodcut novel,...
    • Date: 2017-10-23
  • October 23, 2017  (17-145)
    New Book Highlights Architecture of U.S. Libraries Technology continues to reshape our ideas about what a library can be, yet library architecture is still framed around the physical dimensions of books and the furniture and spaces designed to store and display them. “American Libraries 1730–1950”—a new book by Kenneth Breisch, published by W.W. Norton & Company in association with the Library of Congress—celebrates the history of library architecture in America, from...
    • Date: 2017-10-23
  • October 19, 2017  (17-132)
    Library of Congress Launches Congressional Data Challenge The Library of Congress today launched a Congressional Data Challenge, a competition asking participants to leverage legislative data sets on congress.gov and other platforms to develop digital projects that analyze, interpret or share congressional data in user-friendly ways. Submissions could take the form of interactive visualizations, mobile or desktop applications, a website or other digital creations.The Library of Congress will award $5,000 for the...
    • Date: 2017-10-19
  • October 19, 2017  (17-158)
    Library Highlights Horrors of "The Blair Witch Project" The Library of Congress today announced that the creators of “The Blair Witch Project,” a 1999 horror film known as one of the most successful independent movies ever made, will host a panel discussion during the Library’s Halloween festivities.The panel discussion, “Creating Modern Ghost Stories: The Blair Witch Project,” will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 27, in the Coolidge Auditorium of...
    • Date: 2017-10-19
  • October 18, 2017  (17-153)
    Veterans History Project Celebrates Veterans Day at the Library The Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project (VHP) will celebrate Veterans Day, between Nov. 7 to Nov. 11, with live book talks and a variety of performances, guided tours, workshops and other activities. The series of events, titled “Coming Home: Veterans Day at the Library of Congress,” will take place in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library. From a letter-writing event for active-duty...
    • Date: 2017-10-18
  • October 18, 2017  (17-147)
    Library's Koussevitzky Foundation Announces Commission Winners The Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress has awarded commissions for new musical works to six composers. The commissions are granted jointly by the foundation and the performing organizations that will present performances of the newly composed works.Award winners and the groups co-sponsoring their commissions are Jérôme Combier and Argento New Music Project, Georg Friedrich Haas and Third Coast Percussion, Yotam...
    • Date: 2017-10-18
  • October 17, 2017  (17-131)
    Library of Congress Announces Librarians-in-Residence Pilot Program The Library of Congress is launching a Librarians-in-Residence pilot program to offer early career librarians the opportunity to develop their expertise and contribute to building, stewarding and sharing the institution’s vast collections. The application period is Nov. 1 to Nov. 30, 2017. The Library will select up to four applicants for a six-month residency beginning in June 2018. The program is open to students...
    • Date: 2017-10-17
  • October 17, 2017  (17-154)
    Veterans History Project Panel Discussion on Oral History Interviews The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) will host a panel discussion, titled “On the Other Side of the Mic: Perspective from the Interviewer,” at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 25, in the Whittall Pavilion of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building. The panel will feature experts who will discuss how oral interviews serve the objectives of the U.S. American Vietnam War Commemoration (the Commemoration)...
    • Date: 2017-10-17
  • October 16, 2017  (17-150)
    Librarian to Host Conversation with Filmmaker Christopher Nolan In its ongoing mission to preserve and celebrate America’s film heritage, the Library of Congress will host celebrated filmmaker Christopher Nolan for a special conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on the evening of Thursday, November 2.“As a member of our National Film Preservation Board, Christopher Nolan is a strong advocate for the preservation of this important part of our cultural history,” said...
    • Date: 2017-10-16
  • October 16, 2017  (17-152)
    November Film and Event Series at Packard Campus Theater The Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is hosting a night of music and conversation featuring Country Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith as part of the ongoing “Marty Stuart Sessions” concert series at the Packard Campus Theater. Smith will be joined by her husband of 20 years, Marty Stuart, on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are required for this free...
    • Date: 2017-10-16
  • October 13, 2017  (17-151)
    All Things Tactile: Maps, Graphics, Objects and Tours The Library of Congress is using technology and ingenuity to make collections accessible to visitors, researchers and tourists who are blind. A panel of speakers will present on a variety of Library programs and best practices in 3D imaging and curation for the visually impaired. The “All Things Tactile” panel discussion will be held Monday, Oct. 23, at 11 a.m. in room 119 of...
    • Date: 2017-10-13
  • October 12, 2017  (17-142)
    Library and WGBH Celebrate 50 Years of Preserving Public TV and Radio The Library of Congress and Boston public broadcaster WGBH will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 with a series of panels featuring pioneers and experts in public broadcasting Friday, Nov. 3, 2 –6 p.m. The symposium—“Preserving Public Broadcasting at 50 Years”—will be held in the Montpelier room on the sixth floor of the Library’s James Madison...
    • Date: 2017-10-12
  • October 10, 2017  (17-148)
    Papers of Ulysses S. Grant Now Online The Library of Congress has put the papers of Ulysses S. Grant online for the first time in their original format at https://www.loc.gov/collections/ulysses-s-grant-papers/about-this-collection/.The Library holds a treasure trove of documents from the Civil War commander and 18th president of the United States, including personal correspondence, “headquarters records” created during the Civil War and the original handwritten manuscript of Grant’s memoir— regarded as one of...
    • Date: 2017-10-10
  • October 6, 2017  (17-146)
    Library's Packard Campus to Host Country Music Duo The Library’s Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is hosting a night of country music featuring Country Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith as part of the ongoing “The Marty Stuart Sessions” concert series at the Packard Campus Theater.Smith will be joined by her husband and multiple Grammy Award-winning country music singer-songwriter Marty Stuart at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1, at the Packard...
    • Date: 2017-10-06
  • October 4, 2017  (17-143)
    Library of Congress Opens Up the Chambers of Mystery for Halloween Exhibition The Library of Congress is presenting a host of tricks and treats with an autumn pop-up exhibition that embodies seasonal traditions of fantasy and folklore. Making a variety of rarely seen collection items more accessible to the general public, "LOC Halloween: Chambers of Mystery" will show-and-tell the intriguing tales of Halloween and Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, through a variety of...
    • Date: 2017-10-04
  • October 3, 2017  (17-138)
    Philosophy of Immigration Law Subject of Kellogg Lecture on Jurisprudence Political philosopher Jeremy Waldron will deliver the 2017 Frederic R. and Molly S. Kellogg Biennial Lecture on Jurisprudence at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 1, in the Mumford Room of the Library of Congress, located on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building. The lecture, titled “Philosophical Foundations of Immigration Law,” will explore how economic and cultural interests can determine immigration policy....
    • Date: 2017-10-03

September 2017

  • September 29, 2017  (17-141)
    Library of Congress Expands Hispanic Celebration The Library of Congress’ Hispanic Division and Hispanic Cultural Society will host a set of programs and displays to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, in conjunction with the Semi-annual Main Reading Room open house at the Library on Monday, October 9. From a Frida Kahlo-themed story time to the public premiere of the Discovery en Español’s docudrama “Benito Juárez, La Derrota de un Imperio,” these...
    • Date: 2017-09-29
  • September 28, 2017  (17-140)
    Library of Congress Announces Winner of 2017 Holland Prize Ahead of World Architecture Day, the Library of Congress in conjunction with the National Park Service announces the 2017 recipient of Leicester B. Holland Prize, honoring outstanding historic building, structure or landscape drawing.A drawing by Jean-Guy Tanner Dubé from Oxnard, Calif., of the historic 19th-century Wallace Libbey Hardison House Barn in Santa Paula, Calif., is the 2017 Holland Prize winner. Dubé, who received a...
    • Date: 2017-09-28
  • September 26, 2017  (17-137)
    Handbook of Latin American Studies Launches Updated Web Interface In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Library of Congress’ Hispanic Division recently unveiled a redesigned website for the Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) that enhances user experience with handheld devices, visually appealing graphics and responsive features. HLAS, accessible at hlasopac.loc.gov, is an annotated bibliography of selected books, journal articles, conference proceedings and papers, book chapters, maps and atlases, and electronic resources dealing...
    • Date: 2017-09-26