Library of Congress's Blog, page 115

New Book: “Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps”

Designed to educate, amuse or advertise, pictorial maps were a clever and colorful component of print culture in the mid-20th century, often overlooked in studies of cartography. A new book published by the Library of Congress in association with the University of Chicago Press, “Picturing America: The Golden Age of Pictorial Maps,” by Stephen J. Hornsby, celebrates these vibrant maps, tracing their development and proliferation.

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Jacket design by Lauren Michelle Smith

Cartographers have long incorporated illustrations into their maps, drawing mountains, cities and even sea monsters on maps, looking back at some medieval examples. Hornsby demonstrates how 20th-century artists adapted this tradition, encouraged by improvements in print technology and inspired by trends in advertising, graphic design and popular culture.

More than 150 maps, most drawn from the Library of Congress’ Geography and Map Division, are illustrated in six thematic chapters. “Maps to Amuse” includes satirical works like “A New Yorker’s Idea of the United States of America” (1935), while “Maps to Instruct” shows such maps as “A Pictorial Chart of American Literature” (1932), marking the residences of famous American authors. Regional tourism ads, World War II posters and maps of colonial America are just a few of the many types of maps encountered in this volume.

The New York Times calls the book “beautifully illustrated” and notes that it documents the golden age of pictorial maps from the 1920s to the 1970s. It includes the playful (distorted views of the country from the perspective of New Yorkers, Texans and Californians); the obscure (a map of volunteer fire departments in Philadelphia, circa 1792, commissioned and drawn in 1938); and more of the obscure (a map of Michigan bakeries).

“Picturing America” shows how midcentury mapmakers paired vivid illustrations with educational information, entrepreneurial spirit and humor to create lively pictorial maps that are as entertaining to today’s readers as they were to their original audiences.

Stephen J. Hornsby is director of the Canadian-American Center at the University of Maine and a professor of geography and Canadian studies. He is the author and co-editor of several books, including the prize-winning “Historical Atlas of Maine.”

“Picturing America” is a 304-page hardcover book including more than 150 color illustrations. It is available for $45 in the Library of Congress Shop, 10 First St. SE, Washington, DC, 20540-4985. Credit-card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557 or online.

Bibliodiscotheque: Array of Events Planned to Celebrate Disco Culture

Today, the Library of Congress announced an exciting upcoming series: “Library of Congress Bibliodiscotheque.” Multiple events from April 12 through May 6 will explore disco culture, music, dance and fashion represented in the national collections.

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Gloria Gaynor. Courtesy Gloria Gaynor.

Disco’s influence on popular music and dance since the 1970s will be in focus through film screenings, performances, interviews and a symposium. You are welcome to experience the Library of Congress like never before with a diverse lineup of programs featuring appearances by disco icon Gloria Gaynor, whose “I Will Survive” is recognized in the National Recording Registry; fashion guru Tim Gunn; “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts; photographer Bill Bernstein; scholars Alice Echols and Martin Scherzinger; and legendary disco-ball maker Yolanda Baker.

Gloria Gaynor will be accompanied by her band for a performance in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building on May 6, followed by a late-night disco dance party presented in association with BrightestYoungThings and the District of Columbia Library Association.

All events are free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets will be released to the public via Eventbrite on Thursday, March 30, at 10:00 am (ET). If an event is listed as sold out, a limited number of patrons will have the opportunity to register for a waitlist (on the ticketing page).

For more information, contact (202) 707-5502 or concerts@loc.gov. Support free programming at the Library of Congress.[image error]

Inquiring Minds: Author Tells Story of Black Elite Through Library’s Daniel Murray

Daniel Murray, a pioneer in the black history movement, worked at the Library of Congress for 52 years, from 1871 to 1922. He began as special assistant to Librarian of Congress Ainsworth Rand Spofford, later serving as a librarian and a bibliographer of works by African-Americans.

In “The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era,” Elizabeth Dowling Taylor draws on Murray’s lived experiences to recount the story of the rise and disillusionment of the black elite in Washington, D.C. She is the bestselling author of “A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons” and a fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

Taylor discussed “The Original Black Elite” at the Library of Congress on Feb. 14 in a “Books and Beyond” event cosponsored by the Center for the Book and the Daniel A. P. Murray Association. The event was part of the Library’s observance of African-American History Month. Her presentation can be viewed on C-SPAN. Here Taylor shares insights about the book, published in January, and her research at the Library.

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Elizabeth Dowling Taylor and Darren Jones and John Cole of the Library of Congress (fifth, sixth, and seventh from left in middle row) gather with descendants of Daniel Murray in the Great Hall on Feb. 14. following Taylor’s presentation. Photo courtesy of John Cole.

Your book follows the African-American elite in Washington, D.C., from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow era. What, briefly, is the story?

The larger narrative is the African-American experience over Daniel Murray’s lifetime (1851–1925)—the advance of prospects through Reconstruction and the subsequent betrayal at the hands of the government, which passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments but, in the name of reconciliation with the South, then abandoned the new citizens to renewed oppression by white supremacists. History is more meaningful and accessible when it is personalized, so the story unfolds through biography.

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Daniel Murray

Why did you want to tell this story?

This is a cautionary tale of rise and slide. All Americans need to understand that our freedoms, even those embedded in the U.S. Constitution, can be reversed. Rights won must be rights guarded. I focused on the black elite for two reasons. One was to underscore the heterogeneity of the African-American experience historically. For many, the existence of a black elite in the 19th century is a revelation. The other was to put the absurdity of white supremacy in highest relief. The rise of those in Daniel Murray’s circle was realized rather than potential. Its members attained high levels of education, achievement, culture and economic security. They were living proof that African-Americans did not lack the ability to become full contributors to American society.

How did you decide to tell the story through Daniel Murray?

Daniel Murray was a pioneer in the field of African-American history; a leader in the National Afro-American Council, the first national civil rights organization and forerunner of the NAACP; and a prominent member of Washington, D.C.,’s black elite. His compelling story deserves to be shared, and it neatly exemplifies the arc of the larger narrative on the rise and disillusionment of the black elite.

How did Library of Congress resources support your research?

Library historian John Cole, who was director of the Center for the Book at the time, encouraged me early on to pursue research on Daniel Murray. Murray’s papers were donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society by his last surviving son but were destroyed after being microfilmed. I worked from the copy of the 27 reels of microfilm held by the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. Library staffers Jurretta Heckscher, Cheryl Fox and Adrienne Cannon were extremely helpful in bringing my attention to Library resources, including the miscellaneous personnel files on Murray from the Library of Congress archives.

Murray published a bibliography of African-American literature for the Paris Exposition of 1900. How did he come to do that and what was his goal?

In 1899, Librarian of Congress Herbert Putnam approved a request from the organizers of the upcoming Paris Exposition to provide a bibliography of works by African-Americans and put Murray to the task. Murray took on the work with zeal and produced a preliminary list of black authors along with some of their books to be displayed in Paris. Once the exposition closed, he continued to grow his specialized bibliography. Murray had found not only a literary niche, but also an antidote to troubled race relations, believing that “the curse of prejudice is the hand-maid of ignorance.” He became the “go-to man” on all questions relating to black history as his reputation grew. No longer satisfied with bibliography and book collecting, Murray took on black history and biography. His goal eventually expanded to a monumental six-volume encyclopedia.

How was Murray’s work received in his lifetime?

Still laboring over his life’s work in retirement, Murray wrote, “I have not courted and do not now expect a place in the Temple of Fame, but shall be fully satisfied if thought worthy by those who may consult my work of the glorious distinction of admittance to the Temple of Truth.” Aware of Murray’s frail health, W.E.B. Du Bois pleaded with him to allow parts of his encyclopedia to be published in periodicals, but Murray refused to break up the six volumes. Murray died in 1925, never having found a publisher to underwrite his opus. It was Carter G. Woodson who would become known as the Father of Black History.

In 1897, Murray experienced a setback in his Library of Congress career. What happened and why?

Just two months after being named to helm the new Division of Periodicals, Murray was demoted and reassigned to his former position by newly appointed Librarian of Congress John Young. The reason given was “friction incident to caste.” Murray’s humiliation was exacerbated by a substantial drop in salary. He complained that his pay was now lower than that of others with similar duties. This injustice was ignored, and Murray’s salary never rose for the remainder of his tenure.

How did Murray respond to the backward trend in African-American rights and status?

When the rug was pulled out from under African-Americans with the premature abandonment of Reconstruction, the elite had only further to fall. Before the 1890s were over, black leaders attempted to block the slide away from full citizenship. Murray took on a leadership role on the executive committee of the National Afro-American Council and was appointed director of its Legal and Legislative Bureau. The bureau lobbied Congress to pass antilynching and anti-Jim Crow laws, and it laid the groundwork for a constitutional test case challenging disenfranchisement of black voters.

World War I: Norvel Preston Clotfelter

(The following is a guest post by Rachel Telford, archivist with the Veterans History Project.)

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Norvel Preston Clotfelter. Veterans History Project.

In 1917, Norvel Preston Clotfelter’s life was upended when he was drafted into the United States Army. He postponed his wedding, left his job as a school teacher in Mazie, Okla., and began his service at Camp Travis, Texas; he would go on to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces in England and France. But one thing in Clotfelter’s life did not change – he had been keeping a diary since 1912, a habit he would maintain for 37 years – and the 17 months he spent in the Army were no exception. His family recently donated his original wartime diary to the Veterans History Project (VHP), so that his account of his service will be preserved at the Library of Congress for future generations.

As he served in France with the 357th Infantry Regiment, Clotfelter noted his unit’s movements, the weather, commented on the food and briefly described his duties. On Aug. 25, 1918, he was sent to the front lines, noting, “Some of the boys seem to be scared. Others don’t mind it. My first night didn’t bother me at all.” The next night, he is less blasé about his situation, writing “Most of the boys seem to have enough war already. I am one of them.”

On Oct. 13, 1918, Clotfelter began hearing rumors of an armistice, but the rumors proved false, and he would soon learn that the worst was yet to come. On Oct. 27 he writes, “Fine day but we did not enjoy it much. … One shell wounded three this evening. Have dysentery & fever. Am so weak I can hardly get around. Irregular meals, dead horses, bad water, insufficient covering & constant nerve tension are enough to kill anyone.”

As the war dragged on, Clotfelter continued to suffer ill health, lack of food and German attacks, until respite came in an unlikely form – the Spanish Flu. Though it would claim the lives of an estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic secured Clotfelter a path away from the front lines. On November 6, he and 20 other men hiked three miles in order to meet their transport to the 359th Field Hospital at Sivry-la-Perche. There, he notes he was “put into influenza ward… Heavy blankets & good eats. Good place to rest.”

As Clotfelter recuperated in the hospital, he once again heard talk of an armistice, and on Nov. 11, 1918, he and his fellow patients listened as heavy artillery barrages ceased at exactly 11 a.m. Clotfelter was honorably discharged from the Army in February 1919 and returned to Mazie, where he married his sweetheart and resumed his job a school teacher.

Do you have original WWI material that you would like to see preserved at the Library of Congress? Please consider donating it to the Veterans History Project! Visit the Veterans History Project website to find out how.

World War I Centennial, 2017-2018: With the most comprehensive collection of multi-format World War I holdings in the nation, the Library of Congress is a unique resource for primary source materials, education plans, public programs and on-site visitor experiences about The Great War including exhibits, symposia and book talks.

Literacy: You’ve Got Ten Days Left!

(The following is a guest post by Guy Lamolinara, communications officer in the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress.)

There is still time to get your application in for a Library of Congress Literacy Award. The deadline is midnight EDT on March 31.

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Literacy Awards benefactor David Rubenstein interviews 2016 award winners Allister Chang of Libraries Without Borders, Sarah Walzer of the Parent-Child Home Program and Noel Gunther of WETA Reading Rockets on October 27, 2016. Photo by Shawn Miller.

By spending just a few hours to fill out the application (and obtain the necessary letters of recommendation), the payoff can be great: an award of either $150,000 or $50,000 or recognition by the Library of Congress as a “best practices” practitioner.

If you are an organization doing great things in reading and literacy promotion, or know of an organization worthy of recognition, please send us an application. Our Literacy Awards advisory board will carefully review and consider your application.

So far, the Literacy Awards program has given more than $1 million to extraordinary literacy organizations in the United States and around the world. With the help of these awards, organizations large and small are making an important difference in increasing global literacy rates.

You can learn more about the work of past winners by reviewing our best practices publications for the past four years. You will also see a list of award winners for 2013 through 2016. The application, an FAQ and other relevant details are available here.

The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress administers these awards, which were created and are supported by philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, who also supports many other Library initiatives, including its annual National Book Festival, now in its 17th year, to take place this Sept. 2.

Women’s History Month: Library to Live Stream Talk with Arts Leaders

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden will host a discussion at noon on March 22 with three dynamic leaders in the arts in celebration of Women’s History Month at the Library of Congress. The event will be streamed live on the Library’s Facebook page and its YouTube site. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter and #WomensHistory.

“In Conversation with the Librarian of Congress: Leaders in the Arts, a Celebration of Women’s History Month” will feature Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Deborah Rutter, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; and Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Hayden, the first woman to serve as Librarian of Congress, will speak with these leaders about their life experiences and achievements and trends in the cultural community.

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Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress. Photo by Shawn Miller.

Marin Alsop made history with her appointment as the 12th music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. With her inaugural concerts in September 2007, she became the first woman to head a major American orchestra. She also holds the title of conductor emeritus at the Bournemouth Symphony in the United Kingdom, where she served as the principal conductor from 2002 to 2008. Her tenure as the BSO’s music director has garnered national and international attention for her innovative programming and artistry. In 2005, she was named a MacArthur Fellow, the first and only conductor ever to receive this award. In the same year, she won the Classical Brit Award for Best Female Artist. She was also the first artist to win Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award and the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Conductor’s Award in the same year (2003). She makes regular guest conducting appearances with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

As president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Deborah Rutter is the artistic and administrative director of the world’s busiest performing arts center. She manages all facets of the facility, including expansive theater, contemporary dance, ballet, chamber music and jazz seasons, as well as affiliates the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera and offerings in Hip Hop and contemporary music and comedy. The center encompasses one of the nation’s largest arts education programs, reaching millions of people of all ages each year, and includes VSA, the international organization on arts and disability. She became president of the Kennedy Center on Sept. 1, 2014, the third person to serve in this capacity. Prior to her work at the Kennedy Center, she served as president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association from 2003 through 2014 and as executive director of the Seattle Symphony from 1992 through 2003.

Molly Smith has served as artistic director at Arena Stage since 1998. Her more than 30 directing credits at Arena Stage include “Carousel,” “Oliver!,” “The Originalist,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Camp David,” “Mother Courage and Her Children,” “Oklahoma!,” “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and “My Fair Lady.” She most recently directed “Our Town” at Canada’s Shaw Festival. Her directorial work has also been seen at The Old Globe, Asolo Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, Trinity Repertory, Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, Montreal’s Centaur Theatre and Perseverance Theater in Juneau, Alaska, which she founded and ran from 1979 to 1998. She has been a leader in new play development for more than 30 years. She led the reinvention of Arena Stage, focusing on the architecture and creation of the Mead Center for American Theater and positioning Arena Stage as a national center for American artists. During her time with the company, Arena Stage has workshopped more than 100 productions, produced 39 world premieres, staged numerous second and third productions and been an important part of nurturing nine projects that went on to have a life on Broadway.

Pic of the Week: Saint Patrick’s Day

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Puck magazine cover marking Saint Patrick’s Day in 1911

What do parades, shamrocks, and green beer bring to mind? Saint Patrick’s Day, of course. The first Saint Patrick’s Day celebrations in the United States took place in the 18th century in Boston and New York, and festivities expanded in the 19th century as more and more Irish immigrated to the country.

Today, Saint Patrick’s Day is observed nationwide by people of all backgrounds—akin to the Fourth of July or Halloween. But early on, Irish immigrants saw it partly as a way to express their civic pride against anti-immigrant detractors.

Puck was one such detractor. A political satire magazine published between 1877 and 1918, its cartoons caricatured the Irish—depicting negligent servants, scheming political bosses, and reckless agitators. By March 15, 1911, when the cover shown here was published, the magazine had softened its treatment somewhat, although not entirely.

Titled On the Seventeenth—The Irishman’s Idea of Atlas, the cover shows an old Irish man as the god Atlas holding aloft a globe on which Ireland makes up an entire hemisphere. In his other hand, he clutches a shillelagh, a thick stick often used as a weapon. Shamrocks line the sides and bottom of the design, and the title Puck is made of Celtic knots.

Like many Puck covers, this one came into the Library’s collection through copyright registration. The magazine’s publishers, Keppler and Schwarzmann, registered the cover art with the U.S. Copyright Office on March 13, 1911, depositing two copies.

More than 2,500 colorful Puck cartoons are available in the Library’s prints and photographs online catalog.

 

Women’s History Month: Collection Documents Hard-Won Victory

(The following is a guest post by Elizabeth Gettins, Library of Congress digital library specialist.)

“Roll up your sleeves, set your mind to making history.”

—Carrie Chapman Catt

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Carrie Chapman Catt

March is Women’s History Month, so what better collection to highlight than the National American Woman Suffrage Association Collection?

Formed in 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, or NAWSA, melded together two separate women’s organizations that employed different tactics. The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, chose to work mainly at the federal level. The American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), led by Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Julia Ward Howe, worked at the state level. NAWSA combined both of these methods, securing the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 through a series of well-orchestrated state campaigns under the dynamic direction of Carrie Chapman Catt. She drew on the talents and personalities of many accomplished women to steer the movement toward victory and the hard-won right to vote.

The NAWSA Collection, which resides in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, was based initially on the library of Chapman Catt, which she donated to the Library of Congress on November 1, 1938. Others involved with NAWSA subsequently donated their libraries to the collection, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Alice Stone Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Smith Miller and Mary A. Livermore. In total, the collection consists of nearly 800 books, pamphlets, newspapers, scrapbooks and other ephemera dating from 1890 to 1938, a selection of which is available online.

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A pamphlet containing a history of “The Woman’s Journal,” the official publication of the American Woman Suffrage Association

The online selection of materials was prepared with several user groups in mind: students at the high school and college levels interested in developing a basic understanding of the suffrage movement; teachers of courses at these levels; and advanced scholars engaged in research. In all cases, materials were selected that best represent NAWSA as an organization and its place in the woman suffrage campaign.

Collectively, the materials offer a view of how the suffragists worked diligently to secure the right to vote. Regardless of their approach or temperaments, in the end, we have these firebrands to thank.

Susan B. Anthony once remarked, “Oh, if I could but live another century and see the fruition of all the work for women! There is so much yet to be done.” Indeed, women have come a long way in just under 100 years, and Anthony would likely be quite proud. Yet Chapman Catt did not take victory for granted, stating, “The vote has been costly. Prize it . . . understand what it means and what it can do for your country.” Chapman Catt understood the struggle that was and that it might likely persist into the future.

Additional Digital Resources of Interest

The Susan B. Anthony Collection

“Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” by Mary Wollstonecraft

Blog posts: Celebrating Creative Women and A Suffragist in the Kitchen 

Webcast: Catch the Suffragists’ Spirit: The Millers’ Suffrage Scrapbooks

 

New Online: Walt Whitman, Alan Lomax and More

(The following is a guest post by William Kellum, manager in the Library’s Web Services Division.) 

Before we jump into new offerings, we’d be remiss if we didn’t remind you of December’s release of the upgraded presentation for the George Washington Papers Collection. Read all about it in Julie Miller’s excellent blog post here.

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The African American History Month portal is all new for 2017.

African American History Month

February was African American History Month, so we updated our with new content and a new mobile-friendly design. Developed in collaboration with the National Archives and Records Administration, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Gallery of Art, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the portal pays tribute to the generations of African Americans who struggled with adversity to achieve full citizenship in American society. Read more from our Educational Outreach team here.

Walt Whitman Papers

The papers of poet Walt Whitman (1819–92) in the Charles E. Feinberg Collection consist of approximately 28,000 items spanning from 1763 to 1985. The bulk of the items date from the 1840s through Whitman’s death in 1892 and into the 20th century. The collection of correspondence, literary manuscripts, books, proofs and associated items represent periods of Whitman’s life from his early time living in New York, his middle age in Washington, D.C., and the last phase of his life in Camden, New Jersey. The papers include primary documentation of Whitman’s friends and family; his experience as a civil servant and hospital volunteer in Washington, D.C., during the American Civil War; his contributions as a lecturer and social commentator; and his decades-long career as a journalist, prose writer, poet and literary and arts critic. Barbara Bair’s blog post shows off some collection highlights.

Roman Totenberg Papers

Joining our existing Roman Totenberg Papers Collection is a new collection of related material, the Roman Totenberg Papers: Totenberg-Wilk Holocaust Material. These documents, letters, telegrams, drawings and photo albums bear testament to the Totenberg family in Poland before and during the Holocaust and to violinist Roman Totenberg’s unwavering efforts to rescue those left behind.

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Alan Lomax’s collection includes primary source items from his recording trips, like this log from his 1952–53 Spain trip.

Alan Lomax Manuscripts

Back in 2015, we released an initial version of the Alan Lomax Manuscripts Collection, which includes ethnographic field documentation, materials from Lomax’s various projects and cross-cultural research created and collected by Alan Lomax and others on traditional song, music, dance and body movement from around the world. Originally released with around 25,000 items, we’ve now added substantial new content, bringing the total amount of pages available to over 300,000. Nicole Saylor has all the details here.

Presidential Speeches

Presidential Speeches: What Makes an Effective Speech? is new for teachers. Classroom materials include audio, video, pictures and manuscripts from presidential speeches by Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson and more.

Women’s History Month: Zora Neale Hurston Dramas

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Portrait of Zora Neale Hurston in midlife

Zora Neale Hurston died in obscurity in a Florida nursing home in 1960. But her standing as a distinguished writer of African American literature was already on the rise in 1997 when a retired Copyright Office staff member serving as a volunteer identified 10 little-known play scripts she had deposited decades earlier for copyright registration. The discovery of the scripts, added to other known Hurston plays, established her as an important 20th-century dramatist.

Born in 1891, Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida, and began writing and publishing short stories, poems and plays while attending Howard University. Later, she won a scholarship to Barnard College, where she studied with noted anthropologist Franz Boas and earned a bachelor’s degree. She conducted folklore studies under his direction in the American South in the 1920s and recorded folk music there and in the Caribbean in the 1930s with folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. She drew on this work and her own life experiences in her writing, celebrating the African American folkways of the rural South.

Interest in Hurston revived in 1975 when acclaimed novelist Alice Walker published an essay, “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston,” in “Ms. Magazine.” Hurston’s books came back into print, her life became the subject of study and a commemorative stamp was created in her honor.

Hurston was known initially as a folklorist and a novelist before she became known as a playwright; her 1937 novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” is regarded as an American classic. It was the rediscovery of the scripts she deposited for copyright registration that uncovered the extent of her dramatic aspirations. She deposited them between 1925 and 1944. All but one—“Mule-Bone,“ coauthored with Langston Hughes—remained unpublished when the retired staff member found the Hurston scripts in the Copyright Drama Deposit Collection.

The collection consists of drama deposits registered as unpublished with the Copyright Office between 1901 and 1977. Different Library divisions acquired select titles over the years, but the bulk of the collection was transferred to the Manuscript Division in the 1980s. Since then, division staff, interns and volunteers have been researching it and creating an inventory of its contents. Eventually, the entire collection will be microfilmed; selected scripts, including Hurston’s, will also be retained in paper format.

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Program from the 2000
premiere of “Polk County” at the Library

“The discovery of the unpublished Hurston play scripts radically changed scholarly appraisal of Hurston,” explained Alice Birney, the collection’s former curator, now retired. “It now seems that the theater may have been her best medium for integrating folklore, autobiography and music.”

Between 1997 and 1999, Birney organized a series of lunch-hour staff readings at the Library of the unpublished scripts. The readings culminated in the professional production of “Polk County,” a play Hurston coauthored with Dorothy Waring, on December 11 and 12, 2000, in the Library’s Coolidge Auditorium; the Arena Stage of Washington cosponsored the production with the Library. Hurston had deposited the script of the folk comedy, set in a Florida sawmill camp, in 1944.

“I am particularly pleased to see one of our 250,000 unpublished copyright drama deposit typescripts come to the professional stage here for a world premiere at the Library of Congress,” stated James Billington, who was Librarian of Congress at the time. “This work is but one of a rich treasure chest of neglected creative items deposited for copyright in the past but never performed.”

The Arena Stage performed the play again in its own theater in 2002. To accommodate scholarly interest, the Library made the Hurston scripts available online.