Archive for January 2016 (9 posts)

Pic of the Week: #MyTradition

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In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress (AFC) has launched year-long campaign asking Americans to share photos of their folk traditions. The campaign kicks off a year of events that will commemorate AFC’s four decades as the institution of record for American folk traditions and ensure that it remains the country’s most vibrant folklife archive and research center well into the future.

The Balkan singing group Slaveya performing at a National Folk Organization event. The group includes several Library of Congress employees, including AFC’s Theadocia Austen. For them, Balkan singing and costume are “MyTradition.” L-r: Anne Harrison, Katie Kathryn, Tzvety Weiner, Theadocia Austen, Betsy Smith Platt, Karen Chittenden and Helen Fedor. Courtesy of Theadocia Austen.

The Balkan singing group Slaveya performing at a National Folk Organization event. The group includes several Library of Congress employees, including AFC’s Theadocia Austen. For them, Balkan singing and costume are “MyTradition.” L-r: Anne Harrison, Katie Kathryn, Tzvety Weiner, Theadocia Austen, Betsy Smith Platt, Karen Chittenden and Helen Fedor. Courtesy of Theadocia Austen.

The photo campaign asks participants to share the photos to Flickr with the tag “MyTradition” and a Creative Commons license. Photos should highlight a folk tradition in which they themselves participate, creating a collective snapshot of folklife in 2016.

“Do you prepare a family recipe that goes back for generations? Do you sing, dance, tell stories, sew, quilt, craft, or make things by hand as part of a family, ethnic, regional, or occupational tradition? If so, we’d love your photos! We’re looking specifically for photos of a folklife tradition in which you participate yourself. The photo doesn’t necessarily have to include you, but that would be nice—and selfies are welcome,” said the AFC.

You can read more about folklife traditions and the #MyTradition initiative in this blog post from Folklife Today. Help the folklife center celebrate its 40th, and start sharing your photos!

He Came From the Near East

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(The following is a guest post written by Anchi Hoh, a program specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) If you read last month’s Christmas-related blog post “An Armenian ‘Three Magi’ at the Library of Congress” by Levon Avdoyan, you may be wondering how the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division acquired some of […]

Pic of the Week: Willie Nelson on PBS Tonight!

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Make sure to tune in to PBS tonight for the star-studded concert tribute to Willie Nelson, the 2015 recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The concert airs on PBS stations nationwide at 9 p.m. ET on (check local listings). The program also will be broadcast at a later date via the American […]

10 Stories: Mustaches in History! Chronicling America

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In celebration of the release of the 10 millionth page of Chronicling America, our free, online searchable database of historical U.S. newspapers, the reference librarians in our Serials & Government Publications Division have selected some interesting subjects and articles from the archives. We’ve been sharing them in a series of Throwback Thursday #TBT blog posts. […]

Newly Acquired Arabic Manuscript on Early Astronomy and Mathematics

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(The following is a guest post by Anchi Hoh, program specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) The Library of Congress’s African and Middle Eastern Division recently added to its treasure trove a very important 15th century Arabic manuscript on astronomy and mathematics. “Tahrir al-Majisti” (“Commentary on the Almagest”), by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, is […]

Pic of the Week: Gene Luen Yang

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During a special ceremony yesterday, the Library welcomed comic book author and graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The National Ambassador is selected for his or her contributions to young people’s literature, the ability to relate to kids and teens, and a dedication to fostering children’s literacy as a whole. The […]

A New Ambassador for Reading

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There’s something special, author Gene Luen Yang says, about the first time a reader encounters a literary character that shares the same cultural background. In his case, the character was Jubilation Lee, an X-Men comic-book figure who, like Yang, was a Chinese-American with immigrant parents but who, unlike Yang, could release explosive plasmoids and detonate […]

Library in the News: December 2015 Edition

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While the new year is upon us, the Library’s headlines in December are worth looking back on. Topping the news was the announcement of the new selections to the National Film Registry. Outlets noted recognizable films such as “Ghostbusters” and “Top Gun” along with some of the list’s more obscure titles. “If there are any […]