This post explores a unique geologic map. Ives’s strata map, made up of 10 plates representing different geologic periods, was designed as a tool for instruction in schools and colleges in the late 19th century.
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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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This post explores the history of a large spherical globe with only latitude and longitude lines in the collections of the Geography & Map Division.
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Excitement about the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics is sweeping our own nation’s capital, as it is in so many places around the world. Here at the Library of Congress, we’re certainly marking the occasion. The Informal Learning Office (ILO) recently hosted an Olympics-themed Family Day, and afterward they published a blog post about it where …
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While the British military burned the federal properties of Washington during the War of 1812, some soldiers sought souvenirs to commemorate their conquest of the nascent U.S. capital. Seized by a British officer, one particular American bible in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division bears the marks of its dramatic removal, its captivity, and later its homecoming to the United States.
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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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The 4th of July, known as Independence Day, is a cherished national holiday in the United States, celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This historic document marked the thirteen American colonies’ declaration of freedom from British rule, laying the foundation for the nation’s democratic ideal
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This post features selected maps that were created under the auspices of the Federal Writers’ Project.
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We celebrate two great saints today, Saints Peter and Paul. Saint Peter is often considered the Apostle to the Jews and Saint Paul to the Gentiles (based, most probably, on his extensive travels among the Gentiles). Together they witnessed to the budding of Christianity, and both laid down their lives for the faith.
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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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Anglo-American writer Christopher Isherwood lived in Berlin from 1929 to 1932 and observed first-hand the rise of the Nazis and the damage and terror inflicted on the famously tolerant city and its inhabitants. He drew from his journals that he kept from those years to write “Mr. Norris Changes Trains” (1935) and “Goodbye to Berlin” (1939), which would later be combined into an omnibus volume entitled “The Berlin Stories” (1945). Playful and powerful, Isherwood’s depiction of Berlin captured the imagination of later artists, whose work is also represented in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
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Learn more about the maps on display at the new experiential exhibition at the Library of Congress.
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