We Tweet, Therefore We Are

Howdy, folks! (Sorry, my Wyoming roots are showing.)  The Library of Congress finally has its own official Twitter feed.  You can follow us here: http://twitter.com/librarycongress “Library of Congress” was too long as a user name, so in the spirit of Twitter itself, we’ve been truncated. As I’ve been alluding for some time, we are on […]

The Inauguration: History on Both Sides of First Street

For those of you who, like me, just can’t get enough of the Library of Congress, we will be prominently featured before a national television audience next week. ABC’s “Good Morning America” will be originating its coverage of the Inauguration not only on Jan. 20, but also on Jan. 19 (which serendipitously is Martin Luther […]

The Lincoln Inaugural Bible, Chapter and Verse

The Library of Congress often provides Bibles from its vast collections for the use of Members of Congress

The Lincoln Bible, by the way, will be among the items on display in “With Malice Toward None,” our exhibit opening Feb. 12 that honors the 200th birthday of our 16th president.

The images follow the jump. (Warning: The images that are linked to by the thumbnails are pretty large, each in the 5 to 6MB region.)

(All photos credit “Michaela McNichol”)

Title page of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible

Title page of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible

The balance of the images follow the jump …

Mark Dimunation, chief of the Library of Congress' Rare Books and Special Collections Division, holds open the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll

Mark Dimunation, chief of the Library of Congress' Rare Books and Special Collections Division, holds open the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll

Mark Dimunation, chief of the Library of Congress' Rare Books and Special Collections Division, in the Library's Main Reading Room, holds open the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll

Mark Dimunation, chief of the Library of Congress' Rare Books and Special Collections Division, in the Library's Main Reading Room, holds open the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll

The front cover of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible

The front cover of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible

Alternate view of the front cover of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible

Alternate view of the front cover of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible

The 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible against the backdrop of the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress

The 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible against the backdrop of the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress

The 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible, opened to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll, attesting that the book was used for Lincoln's oath of office

The 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible, opened to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll, attesting that the book was used for Lincoln's oath of office

Alternate view of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible, opened to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll, attesting that the book was used for Lincoln's oath of office

Alternate view of the 1861 Lincoln Inaugural Bible, opened to the page signed by the clerk of the Supreme Court, William Thomas Carroll, attesting that the book was used for Lincoln's oath of office

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Food Fit for a President

As you might have heard, President-elect Obama will be using Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Bible when he is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Lincoln is, of course, a major inspiration to the President-elect and a strong influence on the themes of the upcoming inauguration. So we know you’re waiting with baited […]

Library Releases Report on Flickr Pilot

In January, the Library embarked on something that took the online community by storm. In conjunction with Flickr, we loaded a few thousand images from the Library of Congress’ vast collections and asked the user community to get involved: Give us your tags, your comments, your huddled masses …

We were essentially conducting an experiment to see how crowdsourcing might enhance the quality of the information we are able to provide about our collections, while also finding innovative ways to get those collections out to people who might have an avid interest in them.

As we’ve said again and again, we’ve been bowled over by the response. Now, the Library has released its report on the Flickr pilot. (The full report is here; a summary is here. Both links are PDFs.)

After the jump is an account of some of our findings, as adapted from a piece intended for the Library of Congress Gazette, our in-house newsletter.

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Cartography Buffs, Take Note

Our very own John Hessler was featured in today’s Washington Post talking about some of the mysteries behind one of the grand-daddies of all maps, the 1507 Martin Waldseemüller World Map, the document that named “America” and one of the Library’s toppest of the top treasures. (OK, we don’t categorize the treasures quite that way, […]

Maybe I Will Go As 'Crazy Newspaper Face'

Happy Halloween to all! There’s no better time to point you to the LOC’s “Wise Guide” for October, which explores how trick-or-treating got started: The origins of present day “trick-or-treat” date back to the Celtic tradition of offering gifts of fruits and nuts to appease wandering spirits. If not placated, the villagers feared that the […]

Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibit: Getting Ready for Prime Time

Exhibits, especially major ones, take a lot of planning, often years’ worth. There is fund-raising, exhibit design, curatorial work, object selection, conservation, writing the label texts, brochure design, fabrication, mounting, installation … and several other steps that I’m undoubtedly forgetting. On Feb. 12, we’re opening the major exhibition “With Malice Toward None,” celebrating the 200th […]
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