This summer, Junior Fellow Zoe Harrison researched and wrote essays about African American newspaper titles available in the Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers database. In this interview, Harrison shares her research interests and background, her internship experience, and more about the project, “Researching the Black Press in Chronicling America.”
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The Small Press Expo (SPX) Collection at the Library of Congress was established to preserve the history of both the artistic output of the creators who come to SPX, as well as the art that SPX itself generates as part of its yearly festival. SPX provides a forum for artists, writers and publishers of comic …
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Last week, newspapers around the world carried a story from Sydney, Australia, about a “gay penguin” named Sphen that died.
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250 years ago, after the British Parliament passed several retaliatory acts, representatives from the American colonies met in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress to decide how to respond. Would it be battles or boycotts? Colonial newspapers provide a look into this critical time period in our country’s history. Read more about it!
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The end of August is near and you know what that means…back to school time! Let’s close out summer with comic book stories, from the Simpsons to Superman and more!
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Crockett Johnson (1906-1975), born David Johnson Leisk, had a career as a cartoonist and newspaper comic strip artist before he wrote children’s books, most notably “Harold and the Purple Crayon.” See where you can find his work in the journals and newspapers at the Library of Congress.
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This year the Washington Nationals will celebrate their 5-year anniversary since winning the World Series in 2019. But did you know that the Nationals won the World Series 100 years ago as well? Better known as the Washington Senators at the time, the team had officially changed its name to the Washington Nationals in 1905, …
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For a good many years, when I was in the library, they would not buy science fiction and fantasy books, because those were considered trash… So I fought and fought to get them on library lists.” -Andre Norton (Dream Makers Volume II: The Uncommon Men & Women Who Write Science Fiction, 1983) The first woman …
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This blog post rounds up some favorite newspaper titles we’ve come across in working with the collections.
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Learn how to find 21st century newspapers (current newspapers) in the Serial and Government Publications Division collections. These are mostly accessible on-site only, but you can look up titles from the comfort of your own computer using our interactive lists. “How to find” is a new blog series on tips, tricks, and tools to help you navigate the collections of the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room.
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One of the Library’s many outstanding comic book holdings is the 24 original drawings by Steve Ditko for Amazing Fantasy No. 15 in August 1962, including the Spider-Man origin story. The iconic images were donated to the Library by an anonymous donor in 2008. They are included in the opening exhibit of the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery.
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Published in 1978, Paul Avrich’s “An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre” was the first substantial biography of Voltairine de Cleyre (1866-1912), an influential member of the American labor movement at the turn of the 20th century. Donated to the Library of Congress in 1986, the biography refers to de Cleyre as “one of the most interesting if neglected figures in the history of American radicalism.”
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Staff of the Manuscript and Serial & Government Publications divisions will hold a roundtable discussion with three comic studies scholars who will make brief presentations on current research, and discuss psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s anti-comics legacy.
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In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we are highlighting some of the many Asian American and Pacific Islander comic book creators, writers, and characters that can be found in the Library of Congress’ vast comic book collections.
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The following is a guest post by Donnie Summerlin, a Digital Projects Archivist at the University of Georgia Libraries in Athens, GA, and by Kerry Huller, a Digital Conversion Specialist in the Serial and Government Publications Division at the Library of Congress. The University of Georgia is the National Digital Newspaper Program awardee for the state of Georgia.
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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the British Library, the Serial and Government Publications Division displayed some related comic book content on Captain Britain, Miracleman, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Winston Churchill.
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This post briefly highlights Anne Royall, one of America’s first female journalists, and her weekly Paul Pry newspaper.
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Acclaimed author Truman Capote was born in 1924 in New Orleans. An openly gay man from the deep south, Capote defied social expectations and lived his life authentically despite the risk. Known for his small stature and large personality, he surrounded himself with the most famous, fashionable, and wealthy women in New York, whom he …
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When the USS Maine mysteriously exploded, the American “yellow press” published outrageous accusations against Spain and demanded war. Read more about the beginnings of yellow journalism and the rivalry between Pulitzer and Hearst that brought their newspapers to print some of the most preposterous pages in journalism history.
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On the afternoon of February 28, 1844, President John Tyler and roughly 400 guests were enjoying a cruise down the Potomac River on the new US Navy warship USS Princeton, when the mammoth, 13-ton naval gun on board, known as the “Peacemaker,” exploded. The disaster came close to costing the president his life, but instead it led to his marriage.
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Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) dedicated her whole life to advocating for civil rights, especially the education of youth. You can find her work making headlines in Chronicling America newspapers, as well as her friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and other high profile people of the day. Even some comic books featured her biography.
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Read about the history and traditions of Leap Day in the pages of Chronicling America, our historic collection of digitized newspapers.
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“First, no woman should say, ‘I am but a woman!’ But a woman! What more can you ask to be?” – Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), American Astronomer Meteor showers, comets, eclipses, and other celestial events have captured human interest and imagination for thousands of years. Astronomical phenomena have long been speculated over in the press, and …
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Frank Herbert’s Dune Chronicles series is known as the first major world building science fiction saga. Published in 1965, Dune’s influence is clear in many science fiction novels and movies produced since then. Some of the most obvious examples of Dune’s influence can be found in the stories of large, sand-dwelling creatures of nightmares that …
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New Hampshire content is new in Chronicling America! Read our guest post by Robin Butterhof, a Digital Conversion Specialist in SER, and Toben Traver from Dartmouth Libraries (NH) who share about how the NH newspapers were selected, what content they contain, and some tips on how to search in them.
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