Music to Our Ears and Eyes: The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America February 10, 2014 – Posted in: Exhibits, Libraries

Robert Winslow Gordon, first head of the Archive of American Folk-Song, at the Library of Congress, with part of the cylinder collection and recording machinery, about 1930. “Know the songs of a country and you will know its history for the true feeling of a people speaks through what they sing.” – Preface to The Songs of Henry Clay Work (1884) The latest stellar online exhibit from The Library of Congress, Songs of America,…

Library of Congress by the Numbers, 2013 January 26, 2014 – Posted in: Libraries, public libraries

Aerial view of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the oldest structure in the Library of Congress complex The Library of Congress processed 150+ million items and as you will see that is only part of what they accomplished throughout a very active year. It is mind boggling! Here is what went on at our nations oldest cultural institution in 2013: Responded to more than 636,000 congressional reference requests and delivered to Congress approximately 23,000 volumes from…

Found: Harry Houdini’s Long Lost Spiritualism Scrapbook July 24, 2013 – Posted in: Miscellany

An antique dealer in Southern California has unearthed a long lost scrapbook belonging to Harry Houdini. Labeled as “IMPORTANT SCRAP BOOK – MISCELLANEOUS CLIPPINGS,” the book is “jam-packed with newspaper clippings about Spiritualism and Houdini’s own spirit busting activities. Many of the clippings have annotations in Houdini’s own hand. The majority of the material is from 1925 with a few clippings from early 1926.” The content of the scrapbook focuses mostly on Houdini’s anti-spiritualism crusade and…

The Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress has an Open House February 12, 2013

Main Reading Room – Thomas Jefferson Building – Library of Congress It happens twice a year. The mother of all American libraries, the Library of Congress, opens the doors to its main reading room for a “special public open house.” One of the days it is open this year is President’s Day. So if you got the book gene and are anywhere near Washington, DC you might want to head on over and have a look. …

Campaign Graphics: New book explores the poster in Presidential elections May 4, 2012

“Political art is nothing less than an illustration of the skirmishes and stalemates that created and continue to animate the American experiment … Fortunately, the Library of Congress has preserved all of these examples for future generations to see.” – Brooke Gladstone from the preface for “Presidential Campaign Posters From the Library of Congress.” Images include among others: Andrew Jackson portrayed as a king to invoke voters’ memories of royal rule; Jimmy Carter as a…