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How Did America Get Its Name?

Today, America celebrates its independence. Our founding fathers drafted and adopted the Declaration of Independence, declaring America’s freedom from Great Britain and setting in motion universal human rights.

While the colonies may have established it, “America” was given a name long before. America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer who set forth the then revolutionary concept that the lands that Christopher Columbus sailed to in 1492 were part of a separate continent. A map created in 1507 by Martin Waldseemüller was the first to depict this new continent with the name “America,” a Latinized version of “Amerigo.”

“America” is identified in the top portion of this segment of the 1507 Waldseemüller map. Geography and Map Division.

A crown jewel in the Library’s cartographic collections is the map, also known as “America’s Birth Certificate.” While the map has been much publicized since it was acquired in 2003, it’s worthy of exploration today of all days.

The map grew out of an ambitious project in St. Dié, France, in the early years of the 16th century, to update geographic knowledge flowing from the new discoveries of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Waldseemüller’s large world map was the most exciting product of that research effort. He included on the map data gathered by Vespucci during his voyages of 1501-1502 to the New World. Waldseemüller named the new lands “America” on his 1507 map in the recognition of Vespucci’s understanding that a new continent had been uncovered following Columbus’ and subsequent voyages in the late 15th century. An edition of 1,000 copies of the large wood-cut print was reportedly printed and sold, but no other copy is known to have survived. It was the first map, printed or manuscript, to depict clearly a separate Western Hemisphere, with the Pacific as a separate ocean. The map reflected a huge leap forward in knowledge, recognizing the newly found American landmass and forever changing mankind’s understanding and perception of the world itself.

For more than 350 years the map was housed in a 16th-century castle in Wolfegg, in southern Germany. The introduction to Waldseemüller’s “Cosmographie” actually contains the first suggestion that the area of Columbus’ discovery be named “America” in honor of Vespucci, who recognized that a “New World,” the so-called fourth part of the world, had been reached through Columbus’ voyage. Before that time, there was no name that collectively identified the Western Hemisphere. The earlier Spanish explorers referred to the area as the Indies believing, as did Columbus, that it was a part of eastern Asia.

The Library has plenty of other resources on Waldseemüller and the map, including videos and a pretty cool story regarding the institution’s partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in building a hermetically sealed case for the priceless map. You can also read about the project on the NIST site.

Pic of the Week: Familiar Faces on Display in Atlanta

The following is a guest post by Lisa A. Taylor, Liaison Specialist for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project (VHP).

One of the many joys of working at the Veterans History Project is discovering all of the out-of-the-box ways researchers find to use the collections. VHP’s congressional mandate is to collect, preserve and make accessible the war stories of America’s veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war. It is the “make accessible” part of the mission that I find particularly fascinating, because as soon as that phase is complete, it is the individual research interests that inform what happens next. The researchers who access VHP collections are not just historians, authors and documentarians. Sometimes we get inquiries from artists, medical professionals, law firms and performance troops—people and organizations you probably would not assume have an interest in war or veterans’ personal accounts.

Wall display at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport featuring photos from VHP collections. Photo by David Vogt.

One example of an out-of-the-box use of VHP collections comes from none other than Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, the world’s busiest passenger airport, located 650 miles away from our office. Earlier this year, an airport representative tasked with creating a permanent tribute wall to honor the men and women of the United States Armed Forces found exactly what he needed as he perused VHP’s online database. After some strategy meetings with VHP staff and carefully following our Copyright permissions process, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport added 100 photographs from VHP participants’ collections to the tribute wall. How awesome is that? I’d say, very!

The airport unveiled the tribute wall during a public dedication ceremony yesterday, just in time for Independence Day and what is sure to be an even busier travel season. We are honored to have VHP collections featured in such an inventive way—one that takes our mission to accessibility and beyond.

Letters About Literature: Dear Kathryn Erskine

We continue our spotlight of letters from the Letters About Literature initiative, a national reading and writing program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives. Winners for 2016 were announced earlier this month.

There was a tie for the national honor award for Level 1. Following is one of the winning letters written by Charlie Boucher of Rhode Island to Kathryn Erskine, author of “Mockingbird.”

Dear Mrs. Erskine,

A few years ago, I was walking down a bustling Boston street when I noticed a man. His clothes were torn, too small, and he clutched a jar labeled “Please donate.” He muttered gibberish to himself, then shouted at a few young ladies. He seemed confused, yet aggravated simultaneously. I was afraid he might try to hurt someone. My father hurried me along, past the man and down the street. I quickly realized I was walking away from something bigger than a man; I was walking away from what my younger, ignorant self considered to be a disease, a sickness. When we were out of earshot, I asked my dad what was wrong with that man. He brushed the question off, simply saying that I should “avoid people like that.” About a month later, I picked up “Mockingbird.”

I fell in love with that book. No other book has ever made me cry. But I did more than cry. I thought, I visualized, I feared. When I finished your book, I couldn’t stop thinking about that man I had seen. Did he have Aspergers? Rather than avoiding him, should my father and I have helped him? What about the countless other Caitlins in the world? I felt sympathy for them, but I felt something else. Later I realized that was guilt.

I was the girls at Caitlin’s school, bringing her down. Just for avoiding people like that, I had become the bully. I was a hypocrite, ridiculing those who did not help others but not actually helping. The very core of my being, kindness, was in question. But I reread your book, and I felt more a sense of understanding. You weren’t trying to frown upon those who bullied, but rather encourage people to be more open, to promote empathy. I did.

Not even a week after my discovery, I was walking into church when I saw a man who looked and seemed similar than the man I had previously met in Boston. I smiled at him, remembering Caitlin, and gave him a high five. It looked like I had made his day. That man continues to go to my church, and I still greet him the same way I did on that first day. I realized he was kind and helpful. He along with that experience, changed me, and kindness has fully emerged again. I am the person I want to be.

But your book did more than that. It brought to me a confusing topic in an enlightening way: Death. Having someone you love or care about violently ripped away from you. Not knowing where to go, or who to turn to, or anything. That struck me, and it stuck. Life is short, and any day it could end. Just like that. Poof. So make the most of it, and assist the unassisted. Help the helpless. Give a voice to the silent.

All these emotions and thoughts, so strong that I couldn’t keep them in, came pouring out when I read your inspirational novel. And thanks to “Mockingbird” I know now, more than I ever have, about bullying, loss, Aspergers. I have emerged from a cloud of swirling sentiments, a better person, better friend. Your book helps me every day to be the person I want to be, and for that I thank you.

Charlie Boucher

You can read all the winning letters here, including the winning letters from previous years.

New Online: William Oland Bourne Papers

(The following is a story written by Mark Hartsell for the Gazette, the Library of Congress staff newsletter.) 

As a hospital chaplain during the Civil War, William Oland Bourne collected the names of the wounded soldiers he tended and, in doing so, noticed a terrible trend: Many soldiers used their left hands to sign his autograph book because their right arms were missing.

How, Bourne wondered, could these grievously wounded men adapt – to the amputation of their arms, to postwar life, to new jobs – and how could he help?

Bourne had an idea: a left-handed penmanship contest for previously right-handed veterans who suffered the loss of their right arms in combat – a small way to demonstrate self-reliance, adaptability and the skills necessary to find postwar employment.

A penmanship sample submitted by Alfred Whitehouse, incorporating his own photo. Manuscript Division.

More than 60 years after the war, the entries in the two contests staged by Bourne found their way to the Library of Congress and, last month, were placed online – a collection of some 1,500 items that includes photographs, pamphlets and nearly all the contest submissions.

The Wm. Oland Bourne Papers were donated to the Library in 1931 by prominent New York bookseller Gabriel Wells.

“The penmanship contest entries in the Bourne collection not only provide evidence as to the experiences of Civil War soldiers who lost limbs during that war specifically, but they also speak to a longer history of the reintegration of wounded veterans back into civilian life and the different ways individual veterans interpret their military service,” said Michelle Krowl, a historian in the Manuscript Division.

In addition to his work as a chaplain, Bourne served as editor of The Soldier’s Friend, a newspaper dedicated to veterans’ needs and published late in the war and for several years after. He saw firsthand the terrible injuries suffered by Union soldiers and sailors and witnessed their efforts to adapt to disability – experiences that inspired his penmanship contests.

Men who had been right-handed before the war – particularly those who had performed manual labor – might need a new line of work. The contest, Bourne thought, might help them demonstrate their adaptability, that they had the skills to support themselves.

“Penmanship is key to getting a government position,” a contest ad in The Soldier’s Friend read.

Penmanship contest participant J.S. Pendergrast. Manuscript Division.

The contests offered cash prizes and emphasized the quality of penmanship. They attracted hundreds of entrants – not all of whom precisely fit the criteria.

Lewis Horton lost both arms in a naval accident. Undeterred, he entered a letter – certified by a justice of the peace – that he claimed he wrote using his teeth.

Pvt. J.S. Pendergrast of the 24th Massachusetts Infantry lost his right arm – and two fingers and part of the thumb on his left hand. The judging committee awarded him $20 for a letter produced under “exceptional circumstances.”

In some entries, the penmanship is remarkably neat, the letters well-formed and the presentation even artistic. Alfred D. Whitehouse produced an elaborately illustrated page bearing his photograph and dedicated to the “Left Arm Corps.”

In others, the difficulty adapting is plain. “For some, it’s more halting and it’s clear that it’s a struggle for them,” Krowl said.

Some veterans filled their entries with poetry, some simply copied text to demonstrate their penmanship. Most, however, told their own stories.

Pvt. John F. Chase of the 5th Maine Artillery received a Medal of Honor for heroic action during the Battle of Chancellorsville in spring 1863 and was badly wounded atGettysburg two months later.

Chase lay untended on the battlefield for two days and, after being picked up, received no medical attention for three more – doctors assumed he had no chance to survive.

Penmanship contest participant John Chase. Chase identified his many wounds with pen marks on the photo. Manuscript Division.

But he did, and he described his experiences in his contest entry – a letter accompanied by a photograph on which Chase marked his many wounds in red pen.

“I lost my right arm near the shoulder, and left eye,” Chase wrote, “and have forty other scars upon my brest and shouldr caused by peaces of fragments of a Spharical case shot, at the battle of Gettersburg, july the seccond 1863.”

John Bryce of the 1st New York Volunteers described the surgical amputation of his arm – and the effects of anesthesia – in an essay titled “How I Felt Under Cloriform.”

“Set sail as a vessel sailing through the air,” Bryce wrote. “I had a narrow river to cross, which seemed very deep. … I felt no pain during the cutting of my arm. It seemed pleasant while in the stupor.”

The first contest closed in February 1866 with an exhibition of nearly 300 entries at a New York hall festooned with inspirational banners: “Disabled but not disheartened,” “Our disabled soldiers kept the Union from being disabled.”

The display drew big crowds and many dignitaries, including Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. O.O. Howard, who himself lost his right arm at the Battle of Seven Pines in 1862.

The first contest was such a hit that Bourne decided to stage a second competition in 1867.

For that contest, Bourne enlisted major Civil War figures – among them, Grant, Adm. David Farragut and Gens. William T. Sherman, Philip Sheridan and George Meade – to each choose a prizewinner and write a letter to him.

“While we have been accustomed to regard the loss of the right arm as almost fatal to a useful, and consequently happy life,” Sherman wrote to contestant Caleb Fisher, “these samples show how nature substitutes wisely and well one other arm.”

A century and a half later, Krowl said, those letters do something more – Bourne’s contest unintentionally preserved stories that otherwise might never have been told.

“This might be the only place their recollections are captured,” Krowl said. “Unless they filed for a pension and gave their life stories in their claims, this may be the only place they told their life stories or expressed what they felt about losing their arms.”

Pic of the Week: Country Crooners

(from left) Kristian Bush, Charlie Worsham and Jim Collins perform at the Country Music Association Song Writers Series concert in the Coolidge Auditorium. Photo by Shawn Miller.

The Country Music Association and Library of Congress Music Division joined forces again to bring the CMA Songwriters Series to the Library’s historic Coolidge Auditorium. This year’s concert featured Kristian Bush of the hit country duo Sugarland, along with Jim Collins and Charlie Worsham.

Launched in 2005 at Joe’s Pub in New York City, the CMA Songwriters Series gives fans an intimate look at where the hits they love come from. For a decade, the CMA Songwriters Series has been exposing fans across the country and the globe to the artisans who, through their craft, pen hits that touch the lives of millions of music fans. Since it launched at Joe’s Pub, the series has presented more than 75 shows in 13 cities, including Boston, Belfast, Dublin, Los Angeles, Paris, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

You can watch last year’s performances here.

Letters About Literature: Dear Alex Gino

Letters About Literature, a Library of Congress national reading- and writing-promotion program that asks young people in grades 4 through 12 to write to an author (living or deceased) about how his or her book affected their lives, announced its 2016 winners earlier this month.

Nearly 50,000 young readers from across the country participated in this year’s initiative, which aims to instill a lifelong love of reading in the nation’s youth and to engage and nurture their passion for literature. More than 1 million students have participated in the writing contest since it began more than 20 years ago.

The national program is made possible by a generous grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, with additional support from gifts to the Center for the Book.

The top letters in each competition level for each state were chosen. Then, a National and a National Honor winner were chosen from each of the three competition levels: Level 1 (grades 4-6), Level 2 (grades 7-8) and Level 3 (grades 9-12). For the next few weeks, we’ll post the winning letters. This year’s winners are from all parts of the country and wrote to authors as diverse as Maya Angelou, Gayle Forman, Fred Gipson, Alex Gino, Dorothy Parker and Anne Frank.

The following is the Level 1 national prize-winning letter written by Aleema Kelly of Connecticut to Alex Gino, author of “George.”

Dear Alex Gino,

Your book “George” has inspired me in many ways. It got me thinking about how life is not fair especially to specific groups of people I hadn’t really ever thought about before, people unable to really be themselves. It also inspired me to be true to myself and not let anyone’s expectations or judgments make me change who I am.

Your book made me think more about how life can pose totally unexpected problems that are very hard to deal with. George was born in a boy’s body, but he feels like he’s really a girl. He worried about whether his mom would still love and accept him for who he felt he really was if he told her. He couldn’t be himself with friends and classmates which caused him to limit his friends to only one close friend. People shouldn’t have to be scared of what people think of them, especially their own family members. In your book when George told his mom he felt like a girl, she couldn’t accept it. Mothers are supposed to love you no matter what, even if you aren’t what they hoped you would be. When I thought about that I realized when George’s mom didn’t accept him, he sort of shut down and became discouraged.

After I read this book I thought about how it’s not a bad thing if a girl says that she is a TOMBOY and she can enjoy the outdoors, run, climb, and like sports and the more traditional boy colors like blue and green. A Tomboy is usually seen as a positive trait. On the other hand, if a boy says that he wants to do ballet, sewing, playing with dolls, or that he likes pink or purple he’ll risk being teased and not being accepted by others. It isn’t fair, and it doesn’t make sense.

If a boy wants to go and play dress up they are limited as to what they can get dressed up as, without being called names or being made fun of. They can wear a pirate costume or be a superhero, but if they wanted to wear a princess costume or something “girly” they will be thought of as something less than a boy. I even thought about how sometimes if a boy doesn’t want to fight with someone and they want to resolve the issue with words, they will be thought of as a wimp because they don’t want to fight. Boys are not supposed to cry or show emotion but they are supposed to act tough. That seems so ridiculous because everyone has emotions and everyone should be allowed to feel and show all of their emotions.

I also thought about how many people like George have to live their life scared of what people will think of them, forced to hold in this really big secret their whole life. I thought about how there was a whole issue about Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn Jenner having lived his whole life hiding a big secret for many decades because of what other people would think. Even though Bruce Jenner was famous, accomplished, rich, and admired by millions, he still had to struggle with what people would think of him for 60 years before he let out his big secret. If that was so hard for a world famous athlete, it made me realize how much harder it would be for a child like George to have such a huge secret in middle school that they couldn’t share with anyone, because even their parents might not understand or accept their feelings.

After reading this book I gave my friends a list of words and asked them to tell me if each word described boys or girls. The words like blue, green, sports, interrupting, being physical, science, math, writing, computers, building, getting in trouble, risky behavior, scary, fighting, teasing, driving fast, inventing, and exploring were ones most people said described a boy. The words Barbie, dresses, hair, stylish, worried about appearances, gossiping, well behaved, quiet, reading, giggling, using correct grammar, getting along, clubs, groups, driving safely, fancy clothes, being helpful, pink, purple, and following rules were ones most of my friends chose as describing a girl. I thought that in a way society brainwashes us as if everybody should fit into the boy and girl boxes that society has created.

I thought of how many people think that they will be judged because they don’t fit in with “society’s expectations.” Society tells us we need to want to be normal to fit in. I thought about parents, and even my parents – how they were brought up to believe these things. Most of the kids that make fun of people who think, act or look differently, are doing what they have been taught by society, and by their parents who also believed in some of “society’s expectations.” I believe that it is time that we changed these expectations, as we know now that a person’s physical body doesn’t determine who they are or who they like or what they like or how they feel.

Ever since I read your book I have been more confident in myself and I have been trying to put myself in other people’s shoes before I speak. Your book helped me better understand how people would feel when they can’t be themselves. I think your book helped me become a better person, someone who will stand up for people who are being put down and someone who will accept others as they want to be. I haven’t found any other book that talks about this issue of a teenager who feels like they don’t belong in the body they were born with. It made me realize that not only should kids be reading your book but so should adults and parents, because even though change is scary no one should have to feel afraid to be themselves.

Thank you, Alex Gino. Your book led me to have many discussions with my librarian, my parents, and my friends. Your book and the issues it raised helped me be someone who is more supportive of people who face stereotypes like the ones in your book, about who people are and how they should act. Your book made me realize that maybe I can help the next George be accepted throughout their life, and I can also help the next mother of George better accept their child if they have that challenge. I want to make sure that the next Bruce Jenner can be Caitlyn from the beginning, when they first feel that way. I don’t want anyone to have to live their whole life hiding the secret of not feeling the gender that the doctor told them that they were born with. Your book made me want to help others accept themselves and others without prejudice or any stereotypes.

Finally, your book made me realize how lucky I am to be comfortable with myself, and to feel like I belong in my own skin and to have parents and friends who support me just as I am.

Aleema Kelly

You can read all the winning letters here, including the winning letters from previous years.

 

Pic of the Read: America Reads

The “America Reads” exhibition opened on June 16. Photo by Shawn Miller.

“America Reads,” which opened yesterday in the Southwest Gallery of the Jefferson Building, is possibly the first sequel exhibition at the Library of Congress. It follows the institution’s popular 2012 exhibition “Books That Shaped America,” which displayed 88 books by American authors “that had a profound effect on American life.”

For this exhibition, the books were chosen differently — the 65 volumes were selected by the public, as a result of a survey on the Library’s website while the 2012 exhibition was on display. Of the 65 books in “America Reads,” 40 are the public’s top choices. An additional 25 titles were chosen by the public from the “Books That Shaped America” list.

At the top of the top 40 is Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead,” a book that has as many fans as it does detractors. “Roots,” Alex Haley’s novel that sparked legions to become part-time genealogists, was the sixth choice. John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller, Ernest Hemingway, Milton Friedman and Rand occupy 10 of the 40 titles, with each having two books on the list.

The exhibition features some of the rarest and most interesting editions in the Library’s collections, including an 1855 edition of “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman, an 1899 edition of “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, an 1851 edition of “Moby-Dick” by Herman Melville, and an 1830 edition of “The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon, Upon Plates Taken form the Plates of Nephi” by Joseph Smith Jr.

“The fact that the vast majority of the books are works of fiction speaks to the power of the imagination—both of the authors who create these stories and to the members of the public who open their minds to these new stories,” said Guy Lamolinara, co-director of the Library’s National Book Festival.

10 Great Moments in Advertising! Chronicling America

We continue our Throwback Thursday #TBT celebration of Chronicling America, our free, online searchable database of historical U.S. newspapers, with interesting stories from the archives as selected by reference librarians in our Serials & Government Publications Division.

Today we return to our historical newspaper archives to veer off from the normal journalistic endeavors and examine the bold and sometimes peculiar world of newspaper advertising. Here are some ads that caught our eye:

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“Help! Help! Help!” illustrated advertisement from the Pascagoula (Miss.) Democrat-Star, April 20, 1888.

“Help! Help! Help!”

W.G. Tebault has an “immense stock” of dry goods to sell, and it takes, well, a freakishly large hand to sell them. Pascagoula (Miss.) Democrat-Star, April 20, 1888.

“Wrigley’s: Six Reasons Why It’s a Good Friend”

Chewing gum not only steadies your nerves but also is economical—two fine traits in a good friend. Carrizozo (N.M.) News, May 24, 1918.

“Puss in Boots”

A rather alarming kitty in a fine bowler hat hawks footwear for the Manufacturer’s Shoe Company. Pacific (Honolulu) Commercial Advertiser, Feb. 12, 1985.

“The Most Wonderful Endorsement Ever Given Any Product”

A strong boast! But when march composer and bandleader John Philip Sousa and all 66 members of his band sing the praises of Tuxedo tobacco, you must be on to something. “All the vim, energy and enthusiasm we put into the playing of the ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’ we find in the steady use of Tuxedo.” Lexington (Mo.) Intelligencer, Feb. 11, 1916.

“The Largest and Handsomest Dental Parlors in All America”

The hyperbole continues and the illustrations become a little more alarming in this ad promoting the fine practice of Dr. W.J. Hurd, “the friend of suffering humanity.” St. Paul (Minn.) Daily Globe, Dec. 10, 1894.

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“The Largest and Handsomest Dental Parlors in All America,” illustrated advertisement from the St. Paul (Minn.) Daily Globe, Dec. 10, 1894.

“Are You Summer Tired?”

Run down, no appetite, tired in the morning and sallow of complexion? Well, Duffy’s Pure Malt Whiskey will put a stop to that. A great summer medicine! Omaha (Neb.) Daily Bee, August 18, 1905.

“To Weak Men”

If the whiskey doesn’t do it, there’s nothing that improves the nerves, invigorates the muscles and clears up the skin better than an electro-magnetic belt, says Dr. Sanden. Two settings, mild and (ouch) strong. San Francisco Call, Dec. 25, 1895.

“Wiggle-Stick”

“Won’t freeze, won’t break, won’t spill, won’t spot clothes.” Appears to be for “bluing” laundry. And very easy to use. “Directions for use: Wiggle stick around in the water.” Topeka (Kan.) State Journal, Feb. 20, 1904.

“Conspicuous Nose Pores”

Yikes! The less said about this, perhaps, the better. Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, June 13, 1915.

“Shaving Saloon”

We close today with jaunty verse, courtesy of the tonsorial concern of Cornsh & Francis in the Cumberland (Md.) Civilian and Telegraph, May 19, 1859:

All who have bears to cut or hair to crop

Just call on us at our New Shop,

At noon or eve, by night or day,

Or any time that you can stay;

Our room is neat, our towels clean,

Our scissors sharp and razors keen,

And everything we think you’ll find

To suit the taste and please the mind.

And then we move our hand as true

As any barber e’er can do.

With rapid touch we’ll smooth the face

And dress the hair with equal grace.

And all that art and skill can do,

Your money will procure for you.

Launched by the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2007, Chronicling America provides enhanced and permanent access to historically significant newspapers published in the United States between 1836 and 1922. It is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP), a joint effort between the two agencies and partners in 40 states and territories. Start exploring the first draft of history today at chroniclingamerica.loc.gov and help us celebrate on Twitter and Facebook by sharing your findings and using the hashtag #ChronAm.

Diversity of the American Library

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Robert Dawson photographs the Main Library in
Detroit, Michigan. Walker Dawson, courtesy of Robert Dawson.

(The following is a story from the May/June 2016 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine, LCM. You can read the issue in its entirety here.)

Inspired by the nation’s long history of photographic survey projects, photographer Robert Dawson decided to focus his camera on America’s public libraries at the turn of the 21st century.

“Since coming of age during the Vietnam War, I’ve always been interested in the things that help bind us … [like] the shared commons of public libraries,” said Dawson.

From 1994 to 2015, Dawson photographed 526 of the 16,536 public libraries in 48 states and the District of Columbia, often traveling more than 11,000 miles at a time on summer road trips with his son Walker Dawson. The images document the wide range of America’s public libraries in locations ranging from big cities to small towns, shopping malls to Indian reservations, and parking lots to national parks.

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The Mockingbird Branch Library in Abilene, Texas, is located steps from Family Dollar
and Super Bingo.

The Library of Congress recently acquired 681 photographic prints from Dawson’s photographic survey titled “The Public Library: An American Commons.”

“Robert Dawson’s extensive survey provided the perfect opportunity for the Library of Congress to represent the many roles of contemporary public libraries. His photographs also offer a fascinating comparison to our interior and exterior views of libraries newly built at the start of the 20th century,” said Helena Zinkham, director for Collections and Services at the Library of Congress.

As Dawson travelled the country to photograph public libraries, he witnessed many changes, such as library closings, temporary facilities that became permanent and the coming of the digital age of computers and the Internet. Dawson’s work has been influenced by the photographers of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s-1940s and, more recently, by the photographic surveys funded by the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1970s.

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The Queens (New York) Library Bookmobile served area residents in the aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy.

According to Bill Moyers, who wrote the foreword to Dawson’s book “The Public Library: A Photographic Essay,” Dawson’s collection of photographs comes at a propitious time.”

“When the library is being reinvented in response to the explosion of information and knowledge, promiscuous budget cuts in the name of austerity, new technology and changing needs … Dawson shows us … what is at stake—when the library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too.”

About the Collection

Robert Dawson’s Public Library Survey Collection is the largest acquisition of public library photography by the Library of Congress since the early 1900s. Dawson’s contemporary photographs significantly expand the Library’s holdings that describe the American public library—as architecture, community spaces and a reflection of the contemporary social landscape. The collection contains 25 exhibition prints (16-inch by 20-inch) from large-format negatives and 656 prints (8-inch by 10-inch) from both large format negatives as well as digital files. When the full archive is received, it will have all his negatives, scans, field notes, correspondence, maps and other records from the 21-year photography project.

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The 12-by-14 foot Roscoe (South Dakota) Library was one of the smallest public libraries in the nation when it closed in 2002.

The images range from the nation’s smallest library (now closed) in Harland Four Corners, Vermont, to the architecturally-acclaimed Salt Lake City (Utah) Main Library. Images include temporary libraries and bookmobiles, such as those serving residents affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

The Public Library Survey Collection is available for viewing by appointment and will be available on the Library’s website in the future.

View more images of libraries, old and new, here.

All photos | Robert Dawson, Public Library Survey Collection, Prints and Photographs Division

 

Rare Book of the Month: From the Snows of Vermont Comes the “Jungle Book”

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

The Cold Lairs, “The Jungle Book,” pg. 66. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

When you think of the “Jungle Book,” what comes to mind first? For some, it is the classic 1967 Walt Disney movie; for others, the new 2016 Disney release.

However, for many bibliophiles, there is no substitute for the classic children’s book by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). First published in 1894, the work started out as a collection of stories that were previously published in magazines. Following in the footsteps of Aesop’s Fables, the stories use animals to give life lessons.

Kipling was born in Bombay, India, to English parents and while he moved back and forth from India to England a number of times, he always felt his strongest connection to India. It is the location written about in many of his works.

Ironically, this beloved children’s book written by an Englishman and set in the heat of an Indian jungle was actually penned in the snows of Vermont. This unlikely New England connection was the result of Kipling’s marriage to his American wife, Caroline Balestier (1862-1939).

Shere Khan in Jungle, “The Jungle Book,” pg. 108, 109. Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

On a visit to America to spend time with his in-laws, Kipling discovered the quiet beauty of Vermont. Enchanted, he uprooted himself and his wife and moved in 1892 into a small cottage that he named Bliss Cottage, just outside of Brattleboro. That winter, the “Jungle Book” was started. Through the drifts and high snows, Kipling found the inspiration and solitude needed to write his tale. The next year, Kipling had his landmark home, Naulakha, built in Dummerston, Vermont. Designed in the American Shingle Style, the house was named after Naulaka Pavilion in Pakistan. The Kipling’s moved back to England in 1896, but the building still stands and has since been designated a National Historic Landmark that visitors can rent for overnight stays.

The illustrations for the Library’s particular copy of the “Jungle Book” were published in 1908 by Macmillan Company and were created by twins Edward Julius (1883-1957) and Charles Maurice Detmold (1883-1908). The Detmold’s came from an artistic family and showed great talent early on. Extended family shouldered the costs of the twins’ artistic training, and the results can be appreciated by paging through the vivid and dream-like images. This work was a gift from Armida Maria-Theresa and Harris Dunscombe Colt and joins a sizable collection of Kiplingiana in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The collection is comprised of a large number of early editions, manuscripts, photographs, realia and a great deal of supporting secondary materials which chronicle Kipling’s life and works.