News from the Library of Congress

November 2019

September 2019

  • September 16, 2019  (19-090)
    New Website Makes the U.S. Constitution Searchable with Supreme Court Interpretations Throughout History In celebration of Constitution Day, the Library of Congress is launching a new website – constitution.congress.gov – for the Constitution Annotated, the authoritative source for how the Supreme Court has interpreted the nation’s governing document over the years.With advanced search tools and a modern user-friendly interface, the new website makes the 3,000 pages of the Constitution Annotated fully searchable and accessible for the first...
    • Date: 2019-09-16
  • September 5, 2019  (19-085)
    Library of Congress Crowdsourcing Effort Challenges People to Explore Folk and Music Traditions From hot summer days in Mississippi to windy nights in the Caribbean, the Library of Congress’ latest crowdsourcing campaign, launched today, challenges virtual volunteers to explore folk and music traditions through the eyes and writings of one of America’s most famous 20th century folklorists, musicologists and oral historians: Alan Lomax.The new campaign — “The Man who Recorded the World: On the Road with Alan...
    • Date: 2019-09-05

July 2019

  • July 29, 2019  (19-073)
    Rare 2,000-Year-Old Text of Early Buddhism Now Online The Library of Congress has restored and made available online the Gandhara Scroll, a manuscript dating back to around the first century B.C., that offers insight into early Buddhist history. The scroll is one of the world’s oldest Buddhist manuscripts.The scroll originates from Gandhara, an ancient Buddhist region located in what is now the northern border areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The scroll tells...
    • Date: 2019-07-29
  • July 24, 2019  (19-075)
    Papers of President James Garfield Now Online The papers of President James A. Garfield, who was assassinated in the first year of his short presidency, have been digitized and are now available online for the first time from the Library of Congress.The Garfield collection includes approximately 80,000 items, mostly dating from 1850 to 1881. The collection is online at: loc.gov/collections/james-a-garfield-papers/about-this-collection.Garfield’s papers include correspondence, diaries, speeches, records of his Civil War military...
    • Date: 2019-07-24

May 2019

  • May 15, 2019  (19-053)
    News Dispatches from The Associated Press from 1915 to 1930 Now Online Historical news reports and breaking news bulletins published by the Washington bureau of The Associated Press from 1915 to 1930, documenting a full chronology of world and national events, have been digitized and are now available online from the Library of Congress.The collection includes news dispatches from key moments in history, from the sinking of the Lusitania ocean liner in 1915, drawing the U.S....
    • Date: 2019-05-15
  • May 10, 2019  (19-052)
    Veterans History Project Connects D-Day Journeys in Interactive Online Experience for 75th Anniversary In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II, the Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress today launched an interactive online experience that features unique journeys of veterans who were part of the invasion.The digital efforts include an interactive Story Map, “D-Day Journeys: Personal Geographies of D-Day,” and a new online website feature,...
    • Date: 2019-05-10
  • May 6, 2019  (19-046)
    Centuries of Rare Chinese Books Now Online at the Library of Congress In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage month, the Library of Congress has digitized and made available online 1,000 Chinese rare books produced before 1796. The Chinese Rare Book Digital Collection includes the most valuable titles and editions housed in the Library’s Asian Division, some of which date as far back as the 10th century and are the only extant copies in the world.This...
    • Date: 2019-05-06

April 2019

  • April 29, 2019  (19-044)
    Classic Works of Children's Books Published More Than 100 Years Ago Now Online at the Library of Congress In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week (April 29 to May 5), today the Library of Congress launched a unique online collection of 67 historically significant children’s books published more than 100 years ago. Drawn from the Library’s collection, Children’s Book Selections are digital versions both of classic works still read by children today and of lesser-known treasures. Additionally, today, DC-area...
    • Date: 2019-04-29
  • April 1, 2019  (19-036)
    1,000 Years of Literary Tradition in Rare Persian-Language Manuscripts Now Online at Library of Congress In celebration of the Persian New Year, also known as Nowruz, the Library of Congress has digitized and made available online for the first time the Rare Persian-Language Manuscript Collection, which sheds light on scientific, religious, philosophical and literary topics that are highly valued in the Persian speaking lands.This collection, including 150 manuscripts with some dating back to the 13th century, also reflects the...
    • Date: 2019-04-01

March 2019

  • March 18, 2019  (19-030)
    Archival Materials of Suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt Now Online The papers of suffragist and political strategist Carrie Chapman Catt, including her time as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, have been digitized and are now available online for the first time from the Library of Congress.The collection includes about 9,500 items dating primarily from 1890 to 1920 as Catt helped lead the fight for a federal suffrage amendment. The Catt Papers...
    • Date: 2019-03-18

February 2019

  • February 6, 2019  (19-016)
    Veterans History Project Launches New Online Exhibit on the GI Bill The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched, “The GI Bill: 75 Years of Opportunity,” an online “Experiencing War” website feature that explores the impact of the GI Bill on 15 veterans interviewed for the VHP collection.The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, signed into law on June 22, 1944, and colloquially known as the GI Bill, was a landmark piece of legislation...
    • Date: 2019-02-06

January 2019

  • January 15, 2019  (19-004)
    Unique Autobiography Written in Arabic by an Enslaved Scholar Goes Online at the Library of Congress The Library of Congress has acquired and made available online the Omar Ibn Said Collection, which includes the only known extant narrative written in Arabic by an enslaved person in the United States. In 1831, Omar Ibn Said, a wealthy and highly educated man who was captured in Senegal, Africa, and brought to Charleston, South Carolina, as a slave, wrote a 15-page autobiography describing...
    • Date: 2019-01-15

November 2018

  • November 13, 2018  (18-135)
    Veterans History Project Launches New Online Exhibit on Vietnam War Photography The Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched “Personal Snapshots: Picturing the Vietnam War,” an online “Experiencing War” website feature highlighting 12 collections that document veterans’ wartime experiences. In addition to oral histories and written correspondence, the collections include candid, amateur photographs.Taken either for posterity or as keepsakes for loved ones on the home front, the images range from serene to silly...
    • Date: 2018-11-13

October 2018

  • October 24, 2018  (18-134)
    Crowdsourcing Tool Enables Discovery of Unique Treasures at the Library of Congress The Library of Congress today launched crowd.loc.gov, a crowdsourcing program that will connect the Library with virtual volunteers to transcribe text in digitized images from the Library’s historic collections.This project enables anyone with access to a computer to experience first-hand accounts in history while contributing to the Library’s ability to make these treasures more searchable and readable.Volunteers can work on selections from the papers...
    • Date: 2018-10-24
  • October 17, 2018  (18-132)
    Papers of President Theodore Roosevelt Now Online The largest collection of the papers of President Theodore Roosevelt, documenting his extraordinary career in the White House and as vice president, governor of New York, and as a naturalist, writer and reformer, has been digitized and is now available online from the Library of Congress.The digitization of the massive collection comes just before the 160th anniversary of Roosevelt’s birthday. The nation’s 26th president...
    • Date: 2018-10-17

September 2018

  • September 26, 2018  (18-125)
    National Screening Room of Free Motion Pictures Now Online The Library of Congress announced today that it has digitized hundreds of hours of motion pictures that will be freely available on the newly launched National Screening Room website. Most of the content in the National Screening Room is in the public domain. Movies that the Library believes to be in the public domain are fully downloadable. Permissions were granted for the inclusion of...
    • Date: 2018-09-26
  • September 13, 2018  (18-114)
    Veterans History Project Highlights Cold War Collections The Veterans History Project (VHP) in the Library of Congress today launched a website feature, titled “Cold War Dispatches: Service Stories from 1947-1991,” as part of its “Experiencing War” online series. The feature highlights the stories of veterans who served in non-combatant roles within the military between 1947 and 1991, commonly referred to as the Cold War era.The feature focuses on 12 digitized collections...
    • Date: 2018-09-13
  • September 7, 2018  (18-112)
    Library of Congress Launches New Set of Educational Apps for Back to School The Library of Congress, in collaboration with educational organizations, today announced the launch of two new web- and mobile-based applications related to Congress and civics for use in K-12 classrooms.These new applications transport students through primary sources to some of the most dramatic turning points in U.S. history and immerse them in the related debates.Students can investigate complex questions through both applications, as well...
    • Date: 2018-09-07

July 2018

  • July 26, 2018  (18-095)
    Famed Landscape Architect Frederick Law Olmsted's Papers Now Online Writings and personal records of the founder of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, known for his work on New York’s Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina and many other landscapes, have been digitized and are now available online from the Library of Congress. The archive was digitized to serve as a resource in advance of...
    • Date: 2018-07-26
  • July 12, 2018  (18-091)
    Library of Congress Announces Application-Development Winners to Receive Over $1 Million in Grants The Library of Congress today announced the selection of three organizations that will receive a total of $1,058,513 during the next two years to support the development of engaging web- and mobile-based applications on subjects related to Congress and civics for use in K-12 classrooms.From a mobile game with civics-themed musicals, to an app that takes users back in time to the pre-19th Amendment...
    • Date: 2018-07-12
  • July 6, 2018  (18-088)
    Library of Congress Offers Unprecedented Access to North Korean Serial Collection Home to one of the most prominent North Korean collections in the Western Hemisphere, the Asian Division at the Library of Congress has rolled out the North Korean Serials Database, an online indexing tool that offers researchers enhanced access to periodicals and articles published as far back as the 1940s.The database contains 34,000 indexed records for articles in 18 journals from North Korea that...
    • Date: 2018-07-06

June 2018

  • June 18, 2018  (18-076)
    Geographers on Film Series Tells the Story of the 20th Century in America The Library of Congress’ Geography and Map division, in collaboration with the American Association of Geographers, has digitized an archive of more than 300 filmed interviews, called “Geographers on Film,” which highlights leading voices that transformed the discipline of cartography and geography in the 20th century in America.The complete series has been digitally preserved by the Library of Congress’ Audio-Visual Conservation Laboratory and the...
    • Date: 2018-06-18

May 2018

  • May 15, 2018  (18-071)
    Papers of President Woodrow Wilson Now Online The papers of President Woodrow Wilson, from his time in the White House and as a scholar and governor of New Jersey, have been digitized and are now available online from the Library of Congress 100 years after his presidency. Documents from Wilson also are featured in the Library’s exhibition “Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I.”Librarian of Congress Carla...
    • Date: 2018-05-15
  • May 10, 2018  (18-056)
    Veterans History Project Commemorates 70th Anniversary of U.S. Military Desegregation The Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched an online “Experiencing War” website feature, titled “Equality of Treatment and Opportunity: Executive Order 9981,” marking the 70th anniversary of the landmark order that abolished racial discrimination in the U.S. armed forces.The feature highlights 15 digitized collections in the VHP archive, each of which includes the first-person narrative of an African-American veteran who served...
    • Date: 2018-05-10

April 2018

  • April 27, 2018  (18-055)
    Library of Congress Facilitates Access to Collections Through Innovative Technology The Library of Congress has launched three new online interactive sites that highlight creative ways to facilitate the accessibility of thousands of collections, using the Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based tool to create story maps.Presenting the information in a curated format, story maps allow users to combine text, images and multimedia content in an online application that tells stories through data and the capabilities of...
    • Date: 2018-04-27
  • April 25, 2018  (18-052)
    Library of Congress and Bibliothèque Nationale de France Announce Collaboration on International Digital Content Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Laurence Engel, president of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), today announced a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the BnF to provide digital content for a new online space for collections relating to shared French-American history. The initiative will also be supported by other U.S. organizations, including the National Archives. During the special visit to the...
    • Date: 2018-04-25
  • April 17, 2018  (18-044)
    Papers of Benjamin Franklin Now Online The papers of American scientist, statesman and diplomat Benjamin Franklin have been digitized and are now available online for the first time from the Library of Congress. The Library announced the digitization today in remembrance of the anniversary of Franklin’s death on April 17, 1790.The Franklin papers consist of approximately 8,000 items mostly dating from the 1770s and 1780s. These include the petition that...
    • Date: 2018-04-17
  • April 16, 2018  (18-042)
    Library of Congress Digitizes Unique Japanese Censorship Collection The Library of Congress’ Asian Division has digitized its Japanese Censorship Collection, a unique online archive comprising more than 1,000 marked-up copies of government-censored monographs and galley proofs from the 1920s and 1930s in Japan. The collection, originally from the Home Ministry’s library, reveals traces of the otherwise-hidden censorship process of the Japanese government through marginal notes, stamps, penciled lines and commentary inscribed by...
    • Date: 2018-04-16
  • April 10, 2018  (18-038)
    Library Launches Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration with Thousands of Bernstein Items Online In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, the Library of Congress has made available online—for the first time—musical manuscripts and scrapbooks from the legendary composer’s personal and professional archives housed in the nation’s library. These digital offerings and others nearly tripled the existing content at loc.gov/collections/leonard-bernstein/about-this-collection/. The public can now access for free more than 3,700 items, including photos, writings, correspondence,...
    • Date: 2018-04-10
  • April 3, 2018  (18-036)
    Baseball Scouting Reports of Branch Rickey Now Online Baseball scouting reports of one of the most famous baseball executives and scouts in history, Branch Rickey, who was also responsible for helping Jackie Robinson successfully break Major League Baseball’s color line, have been digitized and are now available online for the first time from the Library of Congress. The archive was digitized in time for Major League Baseball’s new season and for the...
    • Date: 2018-04-03

March 2018

  • March 27, 2018  (18-035)
    Archival Materials of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton Now Online Archival materials from one of the most successful political partnerships in history, the collaboration of suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the movement for women’s rights, have been digitized and are now available online for the first time from the Library of Congress.The collections include about 1,500 items dating primarily from 1840 to 1906 as Anthony and Stanton led the campaign...
    • Date: 2018-03-27
  • March 13, 2018  (18-026)
    Historical Supreme Court Cases Now Online More than 225 years of Supreme Court decisions acquired by the Library of Congress are now publicly available online – free to access in a page image format for the first time. The Library has made available more than 35,000 cases that were published in the printed bound editions of United States Reports (U.S. Reports).United States Reports is a series of bound case reporters...
    • Date: 2018-03-13
  • March 6, 2018  (18-023)
    Library Conserves, Digitizes Rare Photographs Including Harriet Tubman Portrait The Library of Congress has conserved and digitized an album containing 48 rare photographs dating to the 1860s – including a previously unrecorded portrait of Harriet Tubman and images of other abolitionists – and the album will be exhibited for the first time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture later this year. Each image was cleaned, digitally scanned and...
    • Date: 2018-03-06

February 2018

  • February 21, 2018  (18-019)
    Papers of President James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Now Online The papers of President James Buchanan, who presided in the four years leading up to the Civil War, have been digitized and are now available online for the first time from the Library of Congress, along with the papers of his niece, Harriet Lane Johnston, who served as first lady in the White House. Buchanan was the nation’s only president who never married.The Buchanan...
    • Date: 2018-02-21
  • February 5, 2018  (18-007)
    New VHP Web Feature Marks 75th Anniversary of Guadalcanal Battle The Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched its new “Experiencing War” website feature, titled “Guadalcanal: 75 Years Later,” recognizing the anniversary of the end of the major World War II campaign known as the Battle of Guadalcanal.The feature highlights 12 digitized collections found in the VHP archive, each of which includes the first-person narrative of a veteran who fought in this...
    • Date: 2018-02-05

December 2017

  • December 20, 2017  (17-185)
    Historical Versions of the United States Code Now Online More than 60 years of U.S. laws are now published online and accessible for free for the first time after being acquired by the Library of Congress. The Library has made available the main editions and supplements of the United States Code from 1925 through the 1988 edition.The U.S. Code is a compilation of federal laws arranged by subject by the Office of the...
    • Date: 2017-12-20
  • December 12, 2017  (17-179)
    Select National Film Registry Titles Now Available Free Online The Library of Congress is offering film lovers a special gift during the holiday season. Sixty-four motion pictures, named to the Library’s National Film Registry, are now available online on the Library's website. The collection, "Selections from the National Film Registry," is also available to the public on YouTube.These films are among hundreds of titles that have been tapped for preservation because of their...
    • Date: 2017-12-12

November 2017

  • 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 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 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

October 2017

  • 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

September 2017

  • 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
  • September 22, 2017  (17-136)
    Veterans History Project Launches Final Installment of WWI Web Series The Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched “A World Overturned,” the final chapter in a three-part, online website series titled “Experiencing War,” dedicated to U.S. veterans of the First World War. “A World Overturned” highlights eight digitized veterans’ stories about how World War I forever changed their lives, shared through original photographs, letters, diaries, memoirs and other materials. This series has been presented as...
    • Date: 2017-09-22
  • September 19, 2017  (17-129)
    Library Launches labs.loc.gov The Library of Congress today launched labs.loc.gov, a new online space that will host a changing selection of experiments, projects, events and resources designed to encourage creative use of the Library’s digital collections. To help demonstrate the exciting discoveries that are possible, the new site will also feature a gallery of projects from data challenge winners and innovators-in-residence and blog posts and video presentations...
    • Date: 2017-09-19

August 2017

  • August 28, 2017  (17-119)
    Alexander Hamilton Papers Now Online The Library of Congress has put the papers of Alexander Hamilton online for the first time in their original format.The Library holds the world’s largest collection of Hamilton papers—approximately 12,000 items concentrated from 1777 until Hamilton’s death in 1804, including letters, legal papers and drafts of speeches and writings, among other items. Now, for the first time, these original documents—many in Hamilton’s own hand—will...
    • Date: 2017-08-28
  • August 2, 2017  (17-108)
    Library Launches Free WWI Webinar Series The Library of Congress is commemorating the 100thanniversary of the United States’ entry into The Great War with a new free, online webinar series highlighting some of the Library’s most remarkable World War I resources, including documents, photographs, maps, and personal stories collected through the Veterans History Project.The five-part series of 40-minute talks will present discussions on a variety of topics each month beginning...
    • Date: 2017-08-02

July 2017

  • July 6, 2017  (17-100)
    Library Begins Release of Occupational Folklife Interviews The Library of Congress today announced it has put online the first installment of a major oral history project documenting the diverse culture of contemporary workers around the United States. The Occupational Folklife Project (OFP), a multi-year initiative of the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress, launches today online with a collection of interviews from the Port of Houston.The “Working the...
    • Date: 2017-07-06

June 2017

  • June 30, 2017  (17-093)
    Veterans History Project Launches Part Two of Web Series on World War I Veterans The Veterans History Project (VHP) today launched, “Over There” the second in a three-part, online “Experiencing War” website series dedicated to United States veterans of the First World War. “Over There” highlights 10 digitized World War I collections found in the Veterans History Project archive. To access Part II and other veterans’ collections featured in “Over There,” visit www.loc.gov/vets/stories/wwi-part2.html. Part III will be available...
    • Date: 2017-06-30