Archive for April 2012 (13 posts)

Who Does Rob Think He Is?

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Tonight at 8 p.m. EDT, NBC airs another episode of its popular “Who Do You Think You Are” series … this time starring actor Rob Lowe and the Library of Congress. You can catch a quick preview here.

Lowe ventures into his past and discovers an ancestor who battled against George Washington during the American Revolution.

While I can’t reveal all of the juicy details, I can tell you that Lowe spent a considerable amount of time in the Library’s Manuscript Division mining the Peter Force Collection of Americana, as well as working with our curators in the Local History and Genealogy Division.

“Who Do You Think You Are?” follows some of today’s most beloved and iconic celebrities as they embark on personal journeys of self-discovery to trace their family trees. In addition to Lowe, this season’s celebs include Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Helen Hunt, Reba McEntire, Jerome Bettis, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen.

The Armenian Literary Tradition

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Last Thursday, the Library of Congress opened its newest exhibition, “To Know Wisdom and Instruction: The Armenian Literary Tradition at the Library of Congress,” and I had a chance to take a tour with its curator, Levon Avdoyan, the Library’s Armenian and Georgian area specialist in the Near East Section of the African and Middle …

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Pics of the Week: All the World’s a Stage

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On Wednesday, the Library of Congress rung  in William Shakespeare’s birthday with a celebration worthy of a standing ovation at the Globe Theater. Actors from the Shakespeare Theater Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University presented scenes from “Macbeth,” “Cymbeline,” “The Tempest,” Richard III” and “Julius Caesar.” (My own 10th grade recitation …

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Down to Earth

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Every year, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 and citizens are called upon to do their part in protecting the environment, to promote and participate in “green living” and to celebrate our natural resources. Conducted in affiliation with the Library of Congress Center for the Book and the Center for Environmental Literacy at Saint …

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This is Maverick Requesting a Fly By

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Today marked a rather monumental occasion as the space shuttle Discovery made its final flight – not to the stars but to its permanent home at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles, Va. Library of Congress staff members were able to capture its final spin, as it took a few turns …

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An Unsinkable Legacy: Remembering the Titanic

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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 …

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Last Chance to See “Creating the U.S.”

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On May 5, the Library will close its popular exhibition “Creating the United States.” The exhibition has been on view for four years and seen approximately 2 million visitors passing through its space. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough once called it the one exhibition every American should see on a visit to Washington, D.C. Notable …

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