If you’re like me, and you filed your federal taxes at the last minute only a couple of weeks ago, you might have been intrigued by an unusual option: a refund of between $30 to $60 to which you probably didn’t know you were entitled. The IRS, at the urging of Congress, is issuing what …
The New York Times reports on the makeshift shrines that have been erected to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting rampage, and the role the Library of Congress will play in helping ensure their preservation. From the article (registration required): University officials are consulting with experts from the Library of Congress, which compiled materials …
The AP covers congressional consideration of a measure to officially recognize the 1507 Waldseemueller Map, which is owned by the Library of Congress and which celebrates its 500th anniversary tomorrow. (This is quite a week for Library of Congress birthdays!) It is the first document of any kind to refer to the Western Hemisphere as …
The American Institute of Architects as part of its 150th anniversary recently released a list of what they felt were the best 150 works of American architecture. The Library?s Thomas Jefferson Building was ranked 28th, just behind Monticello and just ahead of Frank Lloyd Wright?s Fallingwater. Far be it for this journalism major to second-guess …
I anticipate that one of my regular features will be to highlight or comment upon ? hopefully every day ? the Library?s ?Today in History? page. There are a lot of ?on this day? pages on the Web, but I?d wager that none of them benefits so directly from the combined resources and expertise of …
I just noted the passing of famed writer and historian David Halberstam. Halberstam spoke at the Library’s 2002 National Book Festival. You can see a portion of his remarks in a webcast here.
Those were the first words ever transmitted electronically, in 1844, by Samuel Morse. That message and Morse’s invention of the telegraph marked what was undeniably, at the time, the most significant communications revolution since the advent of movable type. If you are reading this, then chances are you have some sense of how the …