In the wee hours of the morning on April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic – the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time – sank into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean after hitting an iceberg only a few hours earlier. More than 1,500 people died. This year marks the centennial of one …
I have a pack of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies in my freezer. I treat myself to one or two occasionally, although it’s hard limiting myself since you really can’t eat just a couple. I can’t buy Samoas anymore because I won’t stop until I eat the whole box. While we may be enjoying the …
Comics and cartoons are well-loved because they’re funny. Most of us think of them as a break in the monotony of a working day, a light moment, a chuckle over our morning coffee. But for some, mirth is money. Those people tend to take their comics more seriously. Take, for example, the reaction to “The …
What exactly is a “shirtwaist?” The American shirtwaist was a fashion trend for women at the turn of the 20th century, noted for the pairing of tailored shirt and skirt – offering a glimpse of the ankles – and was very fashion-forward during its day. “Shirt-waist sets are among the attractive dress accessories to tempt …
The following is a guest post by Megan Halsband, a reference librarian in the Serials and Government Publications Division: One of the things you might notice today when you visit Chronicling America is a new feature in the left column linking to a sneak peek at our upcoming redesign, available now for “beta test.” If …
There’s something about strapping on a pair of roller skates and the exhilaration of speeding across the floor, taking fast turns, testing your agility as you maneuver against and in tandem with those like-minded. The sport is very near and dear to my heart, as I recently joined the ranks of the DC Rollergirls, the …
There are many avenues of research at the Library of Congress. Some are a laugh riot! Take, for example, the vast collections of cartoons and caricature in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division. For more than a century, the Library has collected pictorial humor – collections that range from a lifetime’s worth of cartoons by …
The Library is a place of superlatives–the biggest this, the first that–and now we’ve added another one to the list that will be a great benefit to patrons in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room (and off-site). This week Mark Sweeney, chief of the Serial and Government Publications Division, along with assistant chief Teri …