Visitors are invited to get into the holiday spirit at Live! at the Library in December with the Library's annual holiday celebration and Christmas tree lighting on Dec. 14. Plus, on Dec. 21 and 28, watch two holiday films that will be added to the National Film Registry this year. And enjoy happy hour alongside café concerts on Dec. 7, 14 and 21 in the Library’s Great Hall.
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What does a preservation makeover really look like? How does supporting librarians serving the blind and print disabled worldwide build accessible collections? Where do you begin celebrating Africana food and foodways? Help us find out! Be a friend and Vote for your choice in the 2024 Friends’ Choice Awards.
The Friends' Choice Award recognizes the project donors most want to fund. You get to decide! If you're already a Friend of the Library - check your email for the voting link. If you are not a Friend - join today! Memberships begin at $50 annually. Learn more about the proposals and vote for the one you want to see come to life.
Materials from the Musical ‘Hadestown’ Added to Library of Congress CollectionsThe Library of Congress has added rare materials from the development of the Tony Award-winning musical “Hadestown” to its collections, thanks to a donation from the show’s Tony Award-winning creator, singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell.
Library Announces 2023 Music Commissions from Koussevitzky FoundationThe 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 the world premiere of each work.
George Chauncey, Historian of LGBTQ+ Life and Kluge Prize Recipient, Releases New Video Series “Through History to Equality”George Chauncey, recipient of the 2022 John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, released three videos today with the Library of Congress examining the experiences of LGBTQ+ Americans. These are now available to watch on loc.gov and the Library’s YouTube channel.
The Wright Brothers History Takes Wing at the LibraryAt 10:35 on the morning of Dec. 17, 1903, on a remote sand dune in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, mankind flew for the first time. Orville Wright piloted a homemade airplane powered by a homemade engine for a few wobbly seconds while his brother and co-creator Wilbur ran alongside the right wingtip. “Success four flights thursday morning” Orville telegraphed their father back home in Dayton, Ohio. The world would never be the same. Humans flew to the moon 65 years later.
Read more in the latest issue of the Library of Congress Magazine.
The Library of Congress is seeking applicants for its next Junior Fellows Program, a summer internship held from May 20, 2024, to July 26, 2024. This 10-week, full-time paid internship is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and recent graduates interested in learning and conducting research using the resources of the largest library in the world. Remote and on-site project opportunities are available. The deadline to apply is Monday, Nov. 27, 2023.
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The Library of Congress will premiere one of four new episodes of the acclaimed PBS series “Native America” on Nov. 9, focused on Native people’s efforts to preserve their languages and ways of life. The film, which features Library collections, will be followed by a panel discussion on Indigenous language preservation, as part of the Library’s celebration of Native American Heritage Month.
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To honor the innovations and successes of federal libraries, librarians and library technicians in meeting the information demands of government, businesses, scholarly communities and the public, the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) in the Library of Congress has opened nominations for its national awards for federal librarianship in fiscal year 2023.
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Throughout November, the Library will host events during Live at the Library as part of the city-wide Shakespeare Everywhere Festival. Public health leader Atul Gawande joins public intellectual Simon Schama for a conversation on Nov. 16. Plus, commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Washington, D.C. Home Rule Act on Nov. 30 with a panel discussion, GoGo band performance and more.
On Thursday evenings, the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building and all exhibitions are open for extended hours from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Visitors are invited to enjoy happy hour drinks and snacks available for purchase in the Great Hall overlooking the Capitol and the Library’s beautiful architecture while visiting the Library’s exhibits, collections and programs.
Free timed-entry passes or an event registration are required to enter the Thomas Jefferson Building. Visit loc.gov/visit to reserve your pass for Live at the Library.
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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 the world premiere of each work.
Click here for more information.
You are subscribed to Latest News from the Library of Congress.
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 the world premiere of each work.
Click here for more information.
You are subscribed to Latest News from the Library of Congress.
George Chauncey, recipient of the 2022 John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity, released three videos today with the Library of Congress examining the experiences of LGBTQ+ Americans. These are now available to watch on loc.gov and the Library’s YouTube channel.
Click here for more information.
You are subscribed to Latest News from the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress has named Stephanie Stillo as the new chief of the Library’s Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Stillo, who assumed her new role on Oct. 9, joined the Library in 2016. She has served as the curator of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection and the Aramont Library — two of the division’s notable collections.
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The Library of Congress has awarded Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative grants to six organizations that are working to develop digital educational projects that teach history, civics, and democracy to secondary students using creative arts materials from the Library’s collections.
The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2023 appropriated money for the new Lewis-Houghton Civics and Democracy Initiative, which honors the service and democratic ideals of Reps. John R. Lewis and Amo Houghton. The Library has awarded each organization $100,000. Grantees who make sufficient progress toward agreed-upon goals may apply for an additional two years of funding.
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The Library of Congress will host Can You Solve It? Family Mystery Day on Saturday, Oct. 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building. The day will feature author panels for middle grade and young adult readers, a mystery writing workshop, scavenger hunt and more.
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In the event of a temporary shutdown of the federal government effective 12:01 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, all Library of Congress buildings will be CLOSED to the public and researchers. All public events will be canceled.
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Visitors are invited to get into the Halloween spirit during Live at the Library in October. Join us for Pick Your Poison – Mystery Night on Oct. 26, featuring a conversation with author Louise Penny, a panel of mystery writers, an improvised murder mystery performance, a scavenger hunt and more. Plus, visitors can explore the Hispanic Reading Room in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on Oct. 5, and learn from two breast cancer experts on choosing the best healthcare for you on Oct. 12 in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
On Thursday evenings, the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building and all exhibitions are open for extended hours from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Visitors are invited to enjoy happy hour drinks and snacks available for purchase in the Great Hall overlooking the Capitol and the Library’s beautiful architecture while visiting the Library’s exhibits, collections and programs.
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The Library of Congress began the 2023-2024 school year by welcoming two teachers to its Capitol Hill campus.
Kelsey Beeghly, a science curriculum and assessment coordinator from Orlando, Florida, will serve as the Library’s 2023-2024 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow.
Tyron Bey, a middle school social studies teacher from Prince George’s County, Maryland, has been named the 2023-2024 Teacher-in-Residence at the Library of Congress.
Beeghly and Bey will work closely with staff members in the Library’s Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement to help make primary sources from the Library’s collections more accessible for teachers, students and families throughout the United States. They will assist in developing materials and experiences for other educators, and collaborate in the creation of a space in the Thomas Jefferson Building’s future Learning Center for families and student groups.
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National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Meg Medina is launching a news series to engage with local children, tenns and families beginning on Oct. 7.
Meet Meg Medina: Family Office Hours with the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature is an opportunity for families to engage directly with Medina in person at the Library of Congress. In each 20-minute Meet Meg Medina session, children, teens and their loved ones can expect to talk about their favorite books, ask questions about writing and the writing process, and hear a master “book talker” suggest ways to connect young readers’ passions to books they may enjoy. Families may also discuss how books they love help create and strengthen their chosen communities.
Due to high demand, and in an effort to create equitable access, tickets are required and will be selected by lottery. The lottery is open for registration between 12 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14, and 12 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21. If selected, guests will receive an e-mail on Sept. 22 with notification that they have secured tickets. Register for the lottery here.
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Artist, educator and 2023 Library of Congress Innovator in Residence Jeffrey Yoo Warren is inviting the public to visit an immersive 3D reconstruction of historic Providence, Rhode Island’s Chinatown in 1914, recreated using archival photographs and records from the Library’s collection. The model is the first part of Yoo Warren’s project, Seeing Lost Enclaves: Relational Reconstructions of Erased Historic Neighborhoods of Color, which aims to unearth lost histories from across the United States.
Complete with navigable buildings, glowing lamplights and the sounds of evening rain, the virtual Providence Chinatown reimagines a once-vibrant neighborhood, of which little trace remains today.
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Three organizations working to expand literacy and promote reading will be awarded the 2023 Library of Congress Literacy Awards, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today. Top prizes are being awarded to The News Literacy Project, Downtown Boxing Gym and Worldreader.
The Literacy Awards program, sponsored by David M. Rubenstein since 2013, honors organizations that provide exemplary, innovative and replicable strategies to combat illiteracy. For more than 10 years, the Library of Congress has recognized the urgent need to achieve universal literacy through the program.
"Literacy is a pathway to an individual’s happiness, health, and wellbeing,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “The Library of Congress is proud to honor and celebrate the achievements of these extraordinary organizations, through the generosity of David M. Rubenstein, in their commitment to expanding literacy around the world.”
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The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) at the Library of Congress today recognized two of its cooperating libraries in New Jersey and Michigan for their outstanding service to readers with visual, physical or print disabilities.
The New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center in Trenton, New Jersey, received the 2023 Regional Library of the Year Award, while the Library for the Visually and Physically Disabled Branch of Muskegon Area District Library in Muskegon, Michigan, received the Sub-regional Library/Advisory and Outreach Center of the Year Award.
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Ada Limón’s signature project as the nation’s 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, “You Are Here,” will feature two major new initiatives: an anthology of commissioned nature poems and poetry installed as public art in seven national parks.
“I want to champion the ways reading and writing poetry can situate us in the natural world,” Limón said. “Never has it been more urgent to feel a sense of reciprocity with our environment, and poetry’s alchemical mix of attention, silence, and rhythm gives us a reciprocal way of experiencing nature — of communing with the natural world through breath and presence.”
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The Library of Congress today announced Rachel Lee Hutcheson, Isabelle Lynch and Lynn Marie Mitchell as its next class of fellows awarded the National Stereoscopic Association Research Fellowship.
Established in 2022 with a generous monetary donation from the National Stereoscopic Association, the fellowship supports research on stereoscopy and the history of photography within the Prints and Photographs Division holdings and the unparalleled photographic history collections at the Library of Congress — including more than 15 million photographs, rare publications, manuscript materials and historic newspapers.
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During Live at the Library in September, visitors are invited to attend an event to kick off the upcoming C-SPAN series “Books that Shaped America” on Sept. 7. Plus, dress as your favorite literary figure for a special Literary Costume Ball on Sept. 14. Visitors are invited to begin celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library with special music and dance events in September.
On Thursday evenings, the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building and all exhibitions are open for extended hours from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Visitors are invited to enjoy happy hour drinks and snacks available for purchase in the Great Hall overlooking the Capitol and the Library’s beautiful architecture while visiting the Library’s exhibits, collections and programs.
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The Library of Congress has released some 230 newly digitized manuscripts written in Hebrew and similar languages such as Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian and Yiddish. The collection, available online for researchers and the public for the first time, includes a 14th century collection of responsa by Solomon ibn Adret of Barcelona, considered one of the most prominent authorities on Jewish law of all time.
The full digital project, funded by the David Berg Foundation, offers a highly diverse collection of materials from the 10th through the 20th centuries, including responsa or rabbinic decisionsand commentary, poetry, Jewish magic, and folk medicine.
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The Library of Congress will hold its next Congress.gov forum on Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET. As the authoritative source for federal legislative information, Congress.gov is greatly enhanced by public feedback about the site.
For the first time, the forum will take place both in person at the Library and via Zoom for participants who would prefer to join virtually. Registration for those who would like to attend in person at the Library’s Madison Building is available here. Online participants can register here. The Library encourages everyone interested in legislative data, from experienced Congress.gov users to those who may be new to tracking federal legislative activity, to join this event.
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Tens of thousands of book lovers joined the Library of Congress National Book Festival in person on Aug. 12 at the Washington Convention Center, including capacity crowds on numerous stages. Videos of select stages are now available, and individual presentations will be made available on demand on the festival’s website beginning the week of Aug. 21.
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