Relevant Library of Congress Collections and Projects

1492: An Ongoing Voyage

This exhibition examines the first sustained contacts between American peoples and European explorers, conquerors, and settlers from 1492 to 1600.

American Treasures of the Library of Congress

Some of the most interesting, significant, and rare items at the Library of Congress are made available through this permanent exhibition. Included are a congratulatory address to George Washington, "To Bigotry No Sanction," written by Moisés Seixas of the Hebrew Congregation of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, and Washington's response. Both are housed by the Manuscript Division. The Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division has on display a Gramophone playing The Stars and Stripes Forever by Portuguese-American John Philip Sousa, and the Music Division has included a manuscript of the same march.

America's First Look into the Camera: Daguerreotype Portraits and Views, 1839-1864

This American Memory project of the Prints and Photographs Division includes a portrait of Solomon Nunes Carvalho with accompanying text.

California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties

This American Memory project of the American Folklife Center contains recordings of Portuguese songs collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell in California, along with photographs and drawings of the musicians and their instruments.

Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America: A Cartographic Perspective

The Portuguese communities in the United States are commemorated here through maps and photographs. The group of Madeiran Protestants who moved to Illinois is featured, as are the first Portuguese-American mayor, Helen L. C. Lawrence, and the Touro Synagogue.

Federal Research Division

The Federal Research Division maintains an online version of the entire text of its publication Portugal: A Country Study. Chapter 2 includes a section on emigration. There are currently more than 80 country studies available online.

Geography and Map Division

The Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress holds more than 4.5 million items, a small portion of which are being made available online through Map Collections: 1597-1988. You can also search for maps through American Memory.

Hispanic Americans in Congress, 1882-1995

This publication contains a portrait of Anthony Lee Coelho and bibliographic information on this representative from California. The grandson of Portuguese immigrants, Coelho served in the House of Representatives from January 1979 to June 1989 and was the first elected Majority Whip of the Democratic Party.

Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s

This American Memory presentation is a collaborative effort between several divisions of the Library of Congress. It includes an image of John Philip Sousa's baseball team.

Library of Congress Information Bulletin

The LCIB makes back issues available online. See the report that followed the June 10, 1997 opening of Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America.

Music Division

The John Philip Sousa Collection is housed by the Music Division.

Prints and Photographs Division

The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress holds over 13.6 million items. Although the online catalog is not comprehensive, it is a good starting point for research and large number of images are available online. Photographs, prints, and drawing can also be searched through American Memory, but not all of the records available through the catalog can be found by searching American Memory.

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

With over 200 objects from the Library's collections or borrowed from other institutions, this exhibit focuses on the role played by religion from the founding of the American colonies to the founding of the American Republic. Items 22, 24, 25, and 154 are related to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.

Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991

This American Memory project from the collections of the Prints and Photographs Division has a photograph of John Philip Sousa's band.

Today in History

This American Memory presentation includes four dates of special importance to the Portuguese in the United States. August 17 is the anniversary of the presentation of the 1790 congratulatory address by the congregation of the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode to George Washington; Cabrilho (Cabrillo) first sailed into San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542; on November 28, 1520 Magalhães (Magellan) entered the "Sea of the South" and began the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean from east to west; and the Touro Synagogue was dedicated on December 2, 1763.